One of the country’s largest ram raid operations was caught on camera over the weekend as a Christchurch vape store suffered heavy financial losses.
As many as 12 youths were captured on Saturday night smashing down the doors of a Vapeology store in Shirley, before storming the premises and stealing "as much product as they could".
At least $15,000 in products has been stolen with stocktakes still ongoing.
Vapeology’s operations manager Shea Anaru was called to the store on Sunday morning by security, discovering vape products littered across the ground and debris strewn outside the shop.
It was the first time the store had been ram raided, police were outside evaluating the scene as Anaru evaluated the footage from CCTV cameras inside.
What he discovered shocked him.
"It was a hard watch, that’s how I would describe it," he told the New Zealand Herald.
"I’ve never seen that many people in a ram raid, I didn’t enjoy watching it. We had to review the footage from multiple angles as well but it was a really hard watch."
Police confirmed a number of offenders entered the store around 3.30am, using a stolen vehicle to break into the premises.
The car was found abandoned at the shop after the teens had left the scene.
Officers are currently making follow-up inquiries, Christchurch police said in a statement, including the review of the CCTV footage to identify and locate the offenders.
While police made no mention of any arrests in relation to the ramraid within their statement, Anaru said officers told him the offenders were too young to be charged.
"They said they were aware of who’s done it, but they’re underage and there’s nothing [police] can do," he said.
When asked how that made him feel, Anaru admitted it was "pretty sucky" and said a law change would be helpful given the number of ram raids in Christchurch over the last year.
"It would be good if there was some punishment for their actions."
It’s unknown what the cost will be to repair the store, including a smashed-in front entrance and damaged furniture, as quotes are yet to come back to the business.
Clean-up for the shop began on Sunday and the business remains closed until repairs are complete.
Anaru said the heaviest loss for the business isn’t the ram raid, but the time the store will spend closed and therefore miss out on trading revenue that would keep their six staff, including himself paid.
"Not being able to have staff on, cutting their hours - it’s pretty sad for them as well."
Ammunition could be seen strewn across the store as an air rifle and a paintball gun were stolen, after four people illegally entered the gun shop.
Another Christchurch vape store, this one in Addington was broken into back in October only a month after opening.
The incident left the manager sweeping glass off the ground and closed for a week during clean-up.
- Nathan Morton
