Chainsaw and fire: Mountain Bike Rotorua shuttle site destroyed and goods stolen causing $10k damage

Multimedia Journalist, Bay of Plenty Times·Rotorua Daily Post·

2 Jul, 2023 11:09 PM3 mins to read

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A chainsaw and fire have destroyed a Mountain Bike Rotorua pickup point and shade sails, chains, and an unusable cell-booster unit has been taken.

Despite the damage costing over $10,000 to the business, the owner is still positive, saying there will always be “bad eggs”, but Rotorua was getting “better and better”.

Mountain Bike Rotorua co-owner Tak Mutu said he got a call from a member of the public on Sunday morning to say the shuttle pickup point, at the corner of Pipeline and Hill Rds in the forest off Waipa Mill Bypass Rd, had been destroyed.

A casual staff member, who was also in the police, went to assess the damage and cordon off the area, Mutu said.

A chainsaw was used to cut down the shelters, as well as an 8m pole with a cell-booster unit on top of it taken.

Arson and vandalism in Whakarewarea Forest. Photo / Supplied

Waterproof shade sails and chains were also stolen.

The offenders then set the signs, marquee, and retail sales box on fire before fleeing, which Mutu said was “super-concerning” given the forestry surroundings.

He said they did not believe they were targeted because there had been an increase in vandalism in and around the forest over the past year.

That included the UV filter treatment facilities for the water taps in the forest that had solar panels on, and which were all stolen.

Mountain Bike Rotorua co-owner Tak Mutu. Photo / Andrew Warner

Water tanks in the forest were put in because of the UV filter system thefts, and this has been vandalised and the taps have been stolen.

“Just a whole bunch of stuff like that has been going on,” he said.

Mutu said staff noticed motorbike and quadbike tracks in the forest over the weekend, and there had been an increase in dirt and quadbikes coming into the forest that were not allowed.

Issues with dirt bikes were not limited to the forest, with police launching Operation Themis earlier this year, targeting illegal dirt bike riders in Rotorua.

Mutu said the damage would cost more than $10,000, which included the cost of replacing the damaged goods.

He said the things stolen either were not desirable to be resold or were completely useless, like the cell-booster unit, which was missing half of the pieces that are taken out each night.

“I wouldn’t have a clue who is taking this stuff.”

Once forensics were finished, the team set up a temporary lineup area and everything would keep running as usual, though “without all the comforts it had before”.

Mutu said he had a meeting with the forest managers and Rotorua Lakes Council today to talk about a more proactive response to the issues.

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He said he hoped to also work with the police.

“We won’t be starting a rebuild soon because we want to have some sort of plan so that we can hopefully mitigate these sorts of issues as much as possible in the future.”

Mutu said at the moment, they were not angry.

“Things like this happen, there are bad eggs around,” he said.

“What we have noticed over the last 12 months is that Rotorua is getting better and better. I know to some people it doesn’t feel like that, but I think that’s more of a perception issue.

“This is just a blip as we rebuild our way out of Covid, and we actually have a really positive outlook.”

Police said they were investigating the incident and anyone with information was asked to contact police on 105 referencing the file number 230702/8962.