Six teenagers were arrested on Sunday night after a 24-hour crime spree in Long Beach, near Dunedin.
Senior Constable Darren Buist, of North Dunedin, said three males and three females, aged between 15 and 18, had been charged with a range of offences including burglary, stealing a car and unlawfully being in a house.
The group allegedly broke into a house on Saturday night.
Their intentions of sleeping there were thwarted when they were confronted by a neighbour and they ran off.
Police tried to locate them but they hid around the area, Snr Const Buist said.
Several accounts of suspicious behaviour were reported to police before two of the teenagers were apprehended about 11pm on Sunday in a stolen vehicle, he said.
The other four were located after further inquiries.
They will all appear in court in Dunedin on Friday.
"It wasted a lot of our time and they were stretching our resources to the max," Snr Const Buist said.
