Police say there may be links between ram-raids at a dairy and liquor shop in Wellington overnight.
Multiple items were stolen from the liquor store on Main Road in Tawa overnight Photo: RNZ / Krystal Gibbens
Offenders stole a number of items from a convenience store on Onepu Road, Lyall Bay after using a car to gain entry.
Police say the burglary was reported at 3.48am on Monday.
At 4.06am police received a report of a burglary at a liquor store on Main Road in Tawa.
A car was also used to gain entry to the store and multiple offenders stole items including liquor, police said.
Thare Adas' store was ram-raided in the early hours of the morning Photo: RNZ / Krystal Gibbens
The two burglaries may be linked, and police are seeking witnesses.
Two cars believed to be associated with the incidents were found abandoned in Newtown.
Anyone who witnessed the burglaries, or who saw a silver Mazda Atenza station wagon or a grey Toyota Aqua in the vicinity of Onepu Road in Lyall Bay around 3.45am, or Main Road in Tawa around 4am is asked to contact police on 105 or online, using the reference file number P051647867 for Lyall Bay and 220822/7286 for Tawa.
Dairy owner forced to shut up shop after ram raid
The ram-raid at the convenience store in Lyall Bay has left the owner unable to open his store.
Owner of the raided convenience store Thare Adas said the door was broken and the thieves store the cash register, along with food.
The theft of the register had left him unable to open, he said.
The burglary had left him unable to operate using cash, eftpos or any payment methods, forcing him to close the shop.
Adas said he feared the ram-raiders would target the shop again while the door was broken.
The owner of a nearby Lyall Bay dairy, Gulabbhai Patel, said he was remaining pragmatic after the neighbouring store was ram-raided.
However, the raids were getting worse and dairy owners could do nothing but persevere, he said.
"We have to live our life anyway, whatever comes," Patel said.
He said his store had been there for 40 years.