Hamilton Police investigating the aggravated robbery of a security company van in the north of City yesterday have arrested four men and returned a child to his mother.
Acting Senior Sergeant Mark Greene of the Hamilton CIB said the timely arrests came about following a large response from the public phoning in reports of the robbery.
"We mentioned yesterday the dozens of calls we received, the inquiry team is still working through interviewing all the witnesses and there are several we hope to speak to today.
"Of interest overnight was the revelation that the member of the public who intervened by driving his car into the offender's getaway vehicle is not a builder but was in fact a 65-year-old man who was sitting in his car with his wife."
Due to the man's intervention and good sighting reports being phoned in to the Police Northern Communications Centre via the 111 system the offenders were sufficiently delayed to allow responding Police to quickly locate the group.
"As a result four Auckland based men have been jointly charged with aggravated robbery and will be appearing in the Hamilton District Court today while a 14-year-old boy who was part of the group was returned to his mother's care overnight.
"All of the cash taken in the robbery was recovered either in the offenders' two cars or on their person including about $10,000 found stuffed down the trousers of one of the offenders."
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