Police took the teenagers, aged from 13 to 16, into custody after a ram raid on a Rothesay Bay dairy on Beach Rd in the city’s north early this morning.
They were initially spotted by a team in the Police Eagle helicopter.
The helicopter crew had been looking for an unrelated vehicle when they saw a car speeding away from the ram raid at 3.55am, police said.
Eagle followed the car and provided location details to responding police units on the ground, who stopped the car on Mayoral Dr in the city centre, a spokeswoman said.
“Six youths, aged 13 to 16, were taken into custody. The youths will appear in Youth Court at a later date.”
A car was found abandoned at the scene.
"A second car, believed to have also been used by the offender/s, was located on fire in Ōtara,” a police spokeswoman said.
“Inquiries are under way to identify and locate the offenders.”
