Robbers leave shop worker tied up in toilet

A woman shop assistant is comforted after robbers tied her up in a toilet. Photo / Dean Purcell

Robbers tied up a woman shop assistant in a toilet and ransacked a New Lynn store last night.

Detectives are investigating the robbery, reported to them by the owners of Now & Then 2008 Tobacconist & Gifts about 8.30pm.

It is believed the two men entered the shop around 6.30pm.

Detective Sergeant Murray Free of the Waitakere CIB said the robbers burst in while the woman was working on her own.

"They spent quite a bit of time going through stuff and stealing stuff."

The woman was tied up in a back room - believed to be a toilet. "It sounds like they might have put a bag over her head as well.

"We're still trying to verify whether they were armed," Mr Free told the Herald at the scene.

The woman was later able to contact the store's owners, who phoned police. She outlined her ordeal to detectives at the scene while about six officers looked for clues.

Anyone with information about the robbery should call the Waitakere CIB on (09) 839-0657.