St Lukes mall jewellery smash and grab: Police make fourth arrest

Police at the scene of a robbery at Westfield St Lukes. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Police have arrested a fourth person over the smash-and-grab jewellery store aggravated robbery at Westfield St Lukes mall.

The brazen daylight robbery occurred during a busy Sunday afternoon.

A 17-year-old male will be facing a number of charges, including aggravated robbery, in the Auckland Youth Court today, police said.

Detective Senior Sergeant Kathy Bostock, Auckland City Police, said police knew this was an "alarming incident for the community" and was distressing for those involved.

"We want to assure the public that we take incidents like this extremely seriously and today's arrest shows we will hold those allegedly responsible to account.

"We are not seeking anyone else in connection to this incident."

Three teens - two aged 18 and a 16-year-old - had previously been apprehended by police and also face youth court.

Panicked shoppers initially thought shots had been fired about 3.25pm in the busy mall.

It was later identified as the sound of glass breaking as thieves allegedly tried to smash their way through a cabinet to items held at the Silvermoon jewellers, but were unsuccessful.

They did, however, manage to get away with "a quantity" of jewellery from the nearby Michael Hill Jewellers store, police said.

After fleeing the scene, the group - said to be wearing black masks - allegedly made off in a stolen vehicle, which was then abandoned at the Baldwin Ave train station before they boarded a train to Kingsland.

The group managed to get on another train bound for Ranui, where three were caught by police.