Burglars On The Rampage

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 95, 15 September 1948, Page 5

Burglars On The Rampage

WAS HECTIC WEEK-END AT TE TEKO ASSOCIATED WITH GAOL BREAKS FROM OPOTIKI LAST WEEK?

Was last Wednesday’s goal break at Opotiki connected "with a series of burglaries in the Edgecumbe-Onepu district at the week-end and a car conversion from Auckland on Friday 1 night? Is the man still at large and hunted by the police in the Te Teko district George Ahatahi Duncan, tough half-caste who was the only one of the three Opotiki escapees to slip through the net ? Or was it just coincidence that all the clues in a hectic week-end’s Police work concentrated around Te Teko ?

Police were hot on Duncan’s trail, -when the conversion of a car from ..Auckland, believed to be heading this way, set the wires buzzing on Friday night. Constable R. F. Julian found the car, which belonged to Mr P. S. Thompson, of St. Heliers Bay, capsized and- abandoned on the Onepu Road at 2 a.m. Saturday. Subsequent events lead to the be- . lief that there were at least two men, possibly three, in the car, and the fact that a man arrested by Constable W. R. Thomasen, in the early hours of the morning is an Auck- . lander with a record suggests strongly that'he was one of them, though he has only been charged so far with theft : from a dwelling, and is held ■ on remand. District Police reinforced by Sergeant W. Hughes and Constable J. Richardson, of Rotorua, and Detective T. Sneddon and Constable H. B. ..Jamieson, of Gisborne, and assisted by settlers, were still combing the * district yesterday and last night. They are particularly keen to get in touch with Mr Duncan, who is described as a half-caste Maori, 29 years old, sft Bin tall, strongly built, with a pointed nose and a scar on the tip of his right-middle finger. Let’s place events in their chroAo- " logical order : (1) This car gets found. (2) On Saturday night Mr Keith • Costello, of Edgecumbe, goes outside just in time to see a couple of men pushing his car out on the road. ; He grabs one, who wriggles out of his overcoat and suit coat, leaving them in Mr Costello’s possession. One of the coats has the keys to Mr ’ Thompson’s car in it. Both men are Maoris. Beyond that, Mr Costello is not certain as to identification. • (3) Foote and Donaldson’s garage, ' Te Teko, is entered between 6.15 and 8.30 p.m. Sunday. Cash worth £3 14s 2d was taken, and petrol coupons equivalent to 450 gallons. (4) A Public Works hut occupied by Cliff Weller at Te Teko, is rifled,

and clothing and personal belongings, including a camera and a watch with £9 in cash, to a total value of' £56 10s stolen. (5) Mrs D. Berryman’s house at Onepu is entered on Sunday between 11.30 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. while the occupants are at Church. A hand bag, a small purse, a fountain pen, and 30s in cash are stolen, a total value of £7 15s, belonging to Nina Arnott. (6) Possibly, unconnected with the Te Teko-Edgecumbe burglars’ picnic, but as a matter of • general interest, Armstrong’s bookshop and jeweller shop are entered for the third time on Sunday night. (7) At 5 a.m. Monday Constable Thomasen arrests Ben Richard Kora, of Auckland. He chased two men, one of whom had a horse, which he abandoned. The Constable got the horse and the v. pedestrian. The rider got away. That was near Te Teko. (8) Kora is charged yesterday before Mr C. S. Armstrong, J.P., wtth the theft from Berryman’s place and remanded to Friday. He had with him when caught Weller’s suitcase, some of Weller’s clothing, and a quantity of gelignite and fuse. More of Weller’s and Berryjnan’s property was found by police and settlers in a pine plantation near Onepu Springs. Police officers had a hard weekend, and they all said they wanted to make a point of thanking the settlers of the district, and the staff of the Te Teko hotel, for co-opera-tion and meals. ' Extensive inquiries are going on in the Whakatane, Opotiki and Rotorua districts for Duncan, i The Police have all road access to the district where the other fugitive is believed to be lurking guarded. Is he Duncan ? Was he in the car from Auckland ? Time and police , thoroughness will answer those questions.