Six charged over $1m heist

The six people charged in connection with Wellington's million-dollar armoured van robbery include four former security guards, some of whom had been contracted to Chubb.

But one of the six is still being sought, and Chubb is still offering a $10,000 reward for the recovery of the nearly $1 million that was stolen.

The four former guards worked for two different Lower Hutt companies, but both firms have stopped operating and the guards' security licences have expired.

Chubb Protective Services general manager Phil Curson confirmed that the arrested people included former licensed security officers who had worked as security transport guards for Plews Security, a company which had been contracted to Chubb.

"Our own investigators established during the early stages that the offenders had knowledge of some of our procedures," he said.

Mr Curson was confident that the $940,404 stolen would be recovered.

The $10,000 reward offered by the company would remain on offer.

He denied that Chubb had lost information relating to bank or client security in a February theft from its Lower Hutt depot in which $90,000 was stolen.

Lower Hutt police have said the theft appeared to have been committed by a worker at the depot.

They have two suspects but have not yet prosecuted anyone.

The head of the inquiry into the $1 million robbery, Detective Senior Sergeant Steve Vaughan, said police would look further into the Lower Hutt theft.

He was confident the 25-year-old former security guard who police are still looking for would turn himself in. He was also hoping to speak to one other man about the organisation of the robbery.

Investigations at the Willis St robbery and Kaiwharawhara van-fire scenes had led to suspicions about the accused people, he said, and police had pounced after getting further information from the public.

In the Wellington District Court yesterday, Judge Richard Watson issued an arrest warrant for the 25-year-old man, who has, in his absence, been charged with the aggravated robbery of two Chubb security guards on December 22 in Wellington.

Former Plews Security guard Peter Richard Tyson, 25, and his partner, Samantha Gay Roser, 26, a beneficiary, were both arrested and also charged with aggravated robbery after armed police executed a search warrant on their Upper Hutt home.

Their next-door neighbour, Jonathan Robert McDonald, 27, unemployed, was also arrested and was charged with them in court yesterday. Like them, he was remanded in custody until January 15.

Former Tui Enterprises security guard Craig Anthony Ferris, 23, unemployed, was arrested in Christchurch and appeared in the Christchurch District Court. He was remanded until next Thursday.

His former workmate Joe Vise Sua, 31, of Korokoro, an engineer who was previously a licensed security guard, was charged with conspiracy to commit an aggravated robbery and remanded until January 19.

None of the five entered a plea.

Applications by Roser and Ferris for name suppression were turned down. Roser wanted her name kept secret for 72 hours so she could tell her father in Auckland of her predicament but Judge Watson refused.

- NZPA