‘I thought of my parents’: Auckland petrol station worker held at gunpoint

GAS in Pakuranga was targeted by armed robbers on Friday morning. Photo / Google Maps

A staff member working at an east Auckland petrol station has described having a gun pointed at her head during an armed robbery on Friday morning.

The incident, which lasted only a matter of minutes, led the worker to lock herself in the storeroom until her boss arrived.

It was a routine Friday morning shift for Tania, who was manning the GAS Petrol Station on Pakuranga Rd.

At 6.15am, two men in black cloth masks entered the Pakuranga petrol station.

Tania described one of them wearing an orange hi-vis jacket, the other wore a grey hoodie. Both were teenagers, appearing to be aged around 16.

At first, she thought they were regular customers.

Without saying a word, one of them pointed a gun at her face, while the other broke into the station’s cigarette cabinet and stole product.

Auckland police confirmed they have opened an investigation into the robbery. Photo / NZME

“I was really scared,” said Tania, who is currently on a worker-visa.

“Like, I thought of my parents back in India, but there was nothing I could do.”

Fortunately, the pair left the station once they’d stolen their desired product without much fuss - but it left Tania in a state of panic.

“I just went to my storeroom and locked myself in,” she said.

“I called my boss and he said don’t be nervous, I’m coming right over. When he came he told me not to touch anything as there’s fingerprints - he’d called the police already.”

Auckland police confirmed they have opened an investigation into the robbery.

The offenders ended up fleeing the scene in a car, according to police, and officers arrived soon afterwards.

No injuries occurred during the incident, police confirmed.

They are still trying to locate the offenders; no arrests have been made at this stage.

Tania has worked for petrol stations across Auckland for the past year. Her visa expires in March, however she’s applied to have it extended.

“The crime is escalating day by day,” said Tania.

“I’m still scared, I think it’s happened in other places too. My owner called me and said to be careful as [other petrol stations] have also had this happen.”

The GAS station has working alarms and a fog cannon, although Tania notes that neither of these would have helped this morning.

“I still feel fine working here.”

Only a couple of months earlier, a group of armed robbers attacked an east Auckland shopping centre late in the evening.

Afte the robbery at Botany Town Centre in East Tamaki, the offenders fled the scene and residents reported hearing a police helicopter searching for them.