One of the teenagers arrested for the bloody assault at a Papatoetoe jeweller over the weekend was on a robbery spree this month.
The 15-year-old was among a group of robbers who forced their way into Pooja Jewellers on June 23 and pummelled the owner’s head with a hammer, inflicting a fracture in his skull.
Police say the youngster was involved in two aggravated robberies and an aggravated burglary this month.
According to NZ Police, the youngster carried out two robberies in Mount Roskill and one in Sandringham just this month. Two of these happened on successive days–June 14 and June 15.
Detective Inspector Karen Bright says investigators’ work has finished and “further arrests are likely.
“We understand how distressing incidents like these are for victims and we hope these arrests will help provide reassurance to both the victims in this case and to the community,” Bright says.
Two other teenagers–aged 14 and 16–were also arrested for the robbery. The eldest one has been charged with swinging the hammer and injuring 50-year-old Gurdeep Singh, who has already undergone a surgery.
In a statement on Tuesday, police said multiple search warrants were executed across Tāmaki Makaurau the last few days, leading to the capture of the suspects linked to a string of aggravated robberies this month.
"Four arrests have been made over five aggravated robberies at various businesses this month," police said.
Detective Inspector Brights says five search warrants were carried out in central, south and west Auckland on Tuesday.
"Today’s action is a result of astute detective work over recent days and weeks," she said. "We have laid charges against three males for the aggravated robbery on Sunday evening, and inquiries are continuing into outstanding offenders."
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