Police hunt armed gangs targeting Apple stores

Police are hunting those responsible for attempted robbery at electronic goods store Yoobee on Broadway in Newmarket last Saturday. Photo / Natalie Slade

Police are scouring CCTV footage for clues to the identity of armed gangs targeting stores stocking Apple electronics in Auckland.

Police are hunting a group of masked robbers who tied up and cut a staff member with a meat cleaver during an attempted robbery at a Yoobee store in Newmarket and Tasered another man at a Yoobee store in Symonds St before making off with up to $18,000 worth of Apple goods.

Another Apple stockist, Ubertec in Parnell, has been targeted twice by burglars this year.

Detective Senior Sergeant Geoff Ringer said today that it didn't look hopeful that CCTV footage from the Yoobee stores would isolate the people involved but said it was still being studied.

"We will be exploring other avenues tomorrow and would continue to look through the footage.''

After police said yesterday that the two Yoobee store raids may be linked, today Mr Ringer would not say whether there was a connection to the burglaries at Ubertec.

Ubertec Manager Talia Hochwimmer said the stores had been broken into at night when they were closed and unstaffed.

She would not say what goods were taken or how much they were worth.

Yoobee manager Steve Mclean did not want to comment on the robberies at its two Auckland stores, saying the matter was being dealt with by police.