Burglaries unlikely to be linked to spate of recent Hamilton armed robberies

Two smash and grab burglaries are not believed to be linked to the recent spate of aggravated robberies in Hamilton, police say. Photo / File

Two smash-and-grabs in Hamilton overnight are unlikely to be linked to a spate of aggravated robberies in the city recently.

Stirling Sports at The Base Shopping Centre and a Huntly butchery were both targeted by thieves in unrelated incidents, Waikato police Senior Sergeant Mike Henwood said.

For some reason the ram raid at Stirling Sports at 2am was not reported to police by the security company until 3.45am, he said.

"We had located the car used [in the ram raid] in Fairfield with all the frontal damage and thought, 'hmm, this is a bit strange' and that the security company decided to let us know about it."

The car, a Subaru, had been stolen from Auckland last night and left dumped after the break-in.

It was initially thought the amount of clothing might have topped around $5,000, however after further assessment, the distraught owners realised it was closer to $35,000 of stock stolen.

"With this time of year they had brought in all their Spring clothing, so there was a lot of new stuff."

A burglary was also reported at The Meat Company on Huntly's main street at 1.48am.

Henwood said an amount of meat was taken. Unfortunately, the burglaries were not uncommon and despite offering advice for the shop to increase it's security, no changes had been made.

"It probably happens there about every three months ... but when we've caught people it's usually local offenders."

Neither burglary was linked and they were not believed to be linked to the spate of aggravated robberies in Hamilton which has seen several dairies and McDonald's all targeted.