A store robbery usually lasts between 45 seconds and 1.5 minutes, police say. Photo: Supplied / Google Maps
Police are warning the public to keep from engaging with thieves after two jewellery stores were robbed in daylight in the presence of customers, in different parts of Auckland.
Within 45 seconds, six masked thieves - one armed with a machete - targeted Manurewa jewellery store on Anzac Day, taking $1 million worth of jewellery and terrifying staff and customers.
A few days later, a group of five thieves made off with jewellery from Michael Hill in a brazen smash-and-grab attack at NorthWest Shopping Centre.
A 27-year-old man has been arrested.
Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin told Checkpoint the robbery at NorthWest "was an appalling crime".
That it happened in daylight would have been alarming for the public and the staff, he said.
"The offenders smashed a number of the display cases and stole jewellery," Baldwin said.
"They were armed and that is deeply concerning.
"I've seen footage - there's one man with a machete - that is very concerning. And because of that, I would reaffirm to the public 'do not approach these people', they are dangerous, they are armed and they are certainly amped up when they commit these crimes."
He said the thieves as such were desperate and engaging with them should be left to the police.
"First and foremost, make sure you are safe - that must be the priority for the staff and anybody in a shopping mall that should witness this."
Baldwin said police also needed the public's help to stop these robberies.
"We have recovered a little bit of property, but the inquiry is continuing. We've got a little bit of jewellery back, but I'm not going to go into specifics because we're in an operational phase and for that reason we need to just be mindful about what we put out there."
People should expect to see more police in shopping centres and malls, he said.
A store robbery usually lasted between 45 seconds and 1.5 minutes, he said.
"We are doing all we can. The team of detectives working on this are very, very driven to hold these individuals to account and to cease this horrible spate of crime."
'Scary, but not a surprise'
A worker at the shopping centre said, for many of them, it was not the first one they had seen.
The mall worker, who did not want to be named, said it happened at almost peak shopping hours.
"It's scary, but also not a surprise," she said, "just because it's happened a couple times last year and it just keeps happening".
"Honestly, the most surprising thing about it is just that it was 4pm on a Sunday, broad daylight."
They said some of the most vulnerable were around at the time of the robbery.
"Most of people actually were underage, like 17-, 18-year-olds coming in on the weekend to work. I mean, most of the customers were the elderly and families coming in, there were a lot of actually young kids here."
The worker said the recent spate of violent robberies at shopping centres across Auckland had sparked security guards to go to the mall when they were not working.
"I've talked to them, and I know a lot of them are coming here on their days off to just walk around the mall and keep an eye out for us, which is really, really nice."
The worker said the increased presence of police and security had eased concerns she had about going in to work.
"It all happened very quickly," another worker said.
"I was just helping out customers in store when suddenly these young girls came in and we heard smashing. They were saying that Michael Hill was being robbed. So we went into action pretty quickly, closed up the store, made sure the customers were okay."
She said she was feeling "a bit rattled" but was being supported by the company.
Customers were at a loss for how such crimes could keep happening.
"I'm just not sure how they're going stop it. It's been continuing for a while," one man said, suggesting armed guards 24/7.
"I was really shocked and I thought that it must have been absolutely traumatising for the people involved, but it just blew me away that it happened here," another mall-goer said.