Arrest after NZME Christchurch office targeted in brazen break-in

NZME's Christchurch office building was targeted by thieves overnight. Photo / NZME

The Christchurch office of NZME was the target of a brazen break-in overnight, with two prominently branded promotional vehicles stolen from a gated car park.

Police are investigating after the break-in at the media company’s Armagh St offices in the early hours of this morning.

Two vehicles were stolen by a single raider – one branded with The Hits radio station featuring show hosts Jono and Ben, and a second ZM-branded vehicle.

Both vehicles are brightly coloured and had been parked in a secure, gated car park at the rear of the building.

Laptops, cellphone docks and clothing were also stolen.

A police spokesperson said they have since arrested a 28-year-old Woolston man following the burglary.

“The man is alleged to have entered an office building twice in the early hours, taking several items and two vehicles,” they said.

Police have filed two charges of burglary.

The man is due to appear in the Christchurch District Court on March 21.

Michael Boggs, chief executive of NZME, said: “It would’ve been awful for our Christchurch team members coming into work this morning to find we’d been broken into. Our people are our top priority and I’m proud of how they’ve responded. We’d like to thank the Police for acting swiftly too.”

NZME, which owns the New Zealand Herald, Newstalk ZB and other commercial radio stations, moved to its Armagh St premises in the central city in late 2022.

The Christchurch operation of NZME had previously been based in the Middleton area of the city after the Canterbury earthquakes.

Newstalk ZB’s former Christchurch headquarters, the 14-storey Radio Network House on Worcester St, was damaged beyond repair in the deadly February 22, 2011 quake.

In 2012, the building became the first implosion in New Zealand, with the right to push the button being put up for online auction, with the winning bid of $26,000 by a consortium of demolition contractors allowing the Child Cancer Foundation to nominate a 6-year-old boy from Queenstown to trigger the event.

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