The mystery of an old Dunedin vault has been cracked.
''This was one of the hardest,'' vault technician Justin Legg said of the former Dunedin chief post office vault.
For the past 20 years, the Dunedin-based contractor has travelled around the South Island opening locked safes and has a 100% record he was keen to protect.
But the Princes St vault, which along with the post office closed its doors in 1994, was his most challenging yet, he said.
His task was made harder as the steel and copper
door, made to resist gas torching, had at some stage been retrofitted with newer locks, possibly in the 1980s. Because those locks were off-centre to the dial, the turning mechanism could not be blown off or the contents would be locked in.
Each four-wheel combination lock had up to 100,000 possible combinations, he said.
An investigation hole, courtesy of several diamond-tipped hardened drill bits, was drilled through the 12cm-thick door.
This enabled a flexi-scope to show him the inside working of the lock mechanisms.
''If we didn't have the scope we would be stuffed, because if we damaged the lock we would be locked out of it.''
The hole enabled him to work out he was dealing with two high-grade American-made four-wheel combination locks.
Another hole was then drilled near the lock, and the scope put back in so he could watch the inner mechanisms of the turning lock, courtesy of a small screen.
The process was repeated for the second lock, and he and a representative from Arrow International were then able to open the vault door.
And what was inside?A crowbar and some old papers, not a bad haul for a 10-hour job of safecracking.
The area had been converted into a temporary store and smoko room for workers on the multimillion redevelopment.
The holes of the vault would be filled and repainted, new keys made for the caged door and possibly there would be an upgrade to a new electronic lock.
Case closed.
