Jewellery store owner ‘unnerved’ after close to $200k worth of goods taken

Police investigation tracked the stolen goods to pawn shops in Rotorua. Photo / NZME

By Finn Blackwell of RNZ

A jewellery store owner in Auckland’s central city says a burglary late last month has left them unnerved.

Police have been investigating the theft from Meaden Master Jewellers on High St since the end of May.

Those involved fled the scene in a rented vehicle, they said.

Auckland City area investigations manager Detective Senior Sergeant Martin Friend said the police investigation tracked the stolen goods to pawn shops in Rotorua.

“In total they have pawned 17 items of the stolen jewellery at a second-hand dealer, which we have been able to recover.”

Police arrested a 30-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man in Ōpōtiki this week, who were expected to appear before Whakatāne District Court in July.

The man was charged with unlawfully taking a vehicle and two counts of burglary, while the woman was charged with receiving stolen property and being in a stolen vehicle.

The owner of the jewellery store, Gary Meaden, said the theft had caused a lot of headaches.

“It’s a bit unnerving really, because you have people coming in and going through your stuff, making a mess,” he said.

Meaden said the thieves were able to get a safe from the store out on to the street.

“All of this costs money, fixing things up,” he said.

“Goods were taken around about $200,000, it’s quite a lot of money.”

Meaden said he hadn’t yet received the stolen goods back from police, and said he was surprised they weren’t looking for more people.

“There’s no way what they did could have been done by one person,” he said.

Whatever police recovered would no doubt need to be refurbished, Meaden said.

“An awful lot of work is involved [...] but it is what it is, kind of goes with the territory, unfortunately, of this trade.”