6.40pm
Former league player Brent Todd, star of Celebrity Treasure Island, was anxious to return to Auckland from Australia today after one of his bars was robbed and its staff were tied up yesterday.
Todd was waiting to catch a delayed Freedom Air flight at Gold Coast Airport in Queensland today
for a regular visit but the robbery made him want to get to Auckland as urgently as possible, he said.
Police are investigating the robbery at the Thirsty Whale bar and cafe at Three Kings Plaza on Mt Albert Rd at about 3.30am yesterday.
Four men, whose faces were covered, entered the bar after it had closed and while staff were cleaning and counting money. The staff were tied up and a large amount of cash was taken.
At the end of January, three of Todd's bars in Mt Albert, Papatoetoe and Hillsborough were robbed of about $100,000 in one day. Three offenders armed with a softball bat, a pipe and a firearm were involved in at least one of the robberies.
Detective Sergeant Glenn Baldwin of the Avondale CIB said today police had an open mind on whether the three robberies or other bar robberies in the last few months were linked.
Todd said he did not think his premises were being targeted.
"This is the first time The Thirsty Whale has been hit. I've got to say there have been three or four other bars around that area in the last week and the week before that have been hit in the same sort of style... It's not just anything to do with me. It's just one of those things."
Todd said he was thinking of putting security guards outside but offenders were pretty clever.
"You can't stop it really. You do what you can to protect staff and to protect everyone but they just seem to find different ways to get around it."
Mr Baldwin said aspects of the robbery indicated the offenders were organised and the crime was planned.
"Even though this crime was committed during the early hours of Saturday morning there may have been people awake and moving about the area," he said.
Mr Baldwin said Avondale CIB would like to hear from anybody who had seen anything suspicious in the Three Kings area either yesterday morning or on previous evenings.
- HERALD STAFF
