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A jewellery shop in central Christchurch is thankful for its security measures this morning after narrowly escaping burglary during a ramraid spree across the city.
But a Harvey Norman store in Belfast was less fortunate, with a worker claiming valuable items were stolen.
Andrew Kelso, the owner of Westende Jewellers,checked his security camera footage in the early hours of Monday morning to find a car planted in his shop’s entrance.
He arrived at the store to find the silver Mazda and a fog-filled interior.
Andrew Kelso checked his security camera footage in the early hours of Monday morning to find a car planted in his shop’s entrance. Photo / NZME
“The fog cannons got installed late last year,” Kelso told NZME as he evaluated the damage.
“They went off when [the offenders] tried to gain entry.”
According to Kelso, the offenders had tried multiple times to breach the entrance of the store with the car, but the car blocked their entrance into the shop.
Efforts to break the shop’s glass were unsuccessful and fog filling the store was clearly enough to deter the offenders’ intentions.
According to Kelso, the offenders had tried multiple times to breach the entrance of the store with the car. Photo / NZME
“Then they headed next door and got away with a few items there,” said Kelso.
The scene of the crime on Colombo St is one typical of a ram raid, with glass strewn across the ground and the roller door badly dented beyond repair.
Police confirmed they were called to Westende Jewellers after they received reports of the ram raid around 4.30am.
Efforts to break the shop’s glass were unsuccessful, and fog filling the store was clearly enough to deter the offender’s intentions. Photo / NZME
“The offenders did not gain entry, however [they] then broke into a second store and took items, before leaving the scene in a second vehicle,” a spokesperson said.
Their ram raid callout was quickly followed up with another - this time 12km north in Belfast.
Police said reports of a ram raid on Radcliffe Rd came only 25 minutes after the first in Christchurch city. They responded and found a vehicle had entered a shop on the street.
The Herald has since learned the targeted store was Harvey Norman, a large retail outlet within a shopping complex on Radcliffe Rd.
Harvey Norman in Belfast, the latest target of ramraids across the district. Photo / George Heard
It includes such stores as Noel Leeming, a Stihl Shop and a New World - all of which have had branches ram-raided across the country.
Harvey Norman is yet to release any formal comment on the matter, however, a worker confirmed to the Herald the offenders entered the shop through its back door.
“They took some pretty valuable s***,” the worker said.
The store itself looks untouched, it’s unclear at this stage how much was stolen at the retail store.
Ram raids in Christchurch have, like most of the country become a common occurrence - shops across the district have seen their businesses hit with cars and products stolen in high quantities.
It was only last week that The Hub shopping centre in Hornby was broken as two people in a stolen car went on a joyride through one set of doors and out the other end.
A number of stores were targeted inside the mall and Hornby Hub was closed for the remainder of the day whilst police carried out forensic work.
Multiple stores across Christchurch were also targeted last week, vape products were stolen from two shops and a third was also smashed into.
