A west Auckland vape store is the latest shop to be ram-raided as the city continues to deal with a crime wave.
Police said the Vape Room on Henderson Valley Rd was ram-raided at 3:13am on Tuesday morning.
A police spokesperson said when officers arrived at the vape shop, the thieves had fled in three stolen vehicles, with two of them used to ram-raid the shop.
"Enquiries are ongoing to ascertain what was taken, and to locate the offenders. Anyone with information on the offenders or the incident is asked to contact Police on 105, quoting P051891403," the police spokesperson said.
Footage provided to Newshub shows offenders fleeing the scene following the ram-raid with the front of the vape store destroyed.
A person who witnessed the ram-raid, who wished to remain anonymous, told Newshub he was out with his dogs when the burglary happened.
"I was taking our two puppies out to go toilet I heard tyres screaming and three very loud crashes, I immediately knew what it was," the witness said.
He said he ran down his driveway to see between eight and 10 young offenders "running in and out of the shop loading the waiting vehicles".
The witness said this isn't the first ram-raid in the area.
"There have been a number of similar incidents in the area recently; the dairy and the alcohol shop next to the vape shop are targeted from time to time, as is the Gull [service station] just up the road."
This latest ram-raid comes a week after police said investigations were underway after four Auckland businesses were hit by burglaries.
Last week, ACT leader David Seymour stood by his party's idea of putting young offenders who commit serious crimes in ankle bracelets amid criticism.
He told AM he wanted young offenders to face consequences for their actions.
Ram-raids have spiked this year with Police Minister Chris Hipkins revealing in Parliament last month there had been 129 ram-raids since May, and "almost all of them" had been committed by people under 18.
When questioned by ACT about the spike in ram-raids, Hipkins told the House 38 offenders had been identified or arrested with "almost all of these people are under 18 years old, and their median age was 15".
In the past five years, ram-raids and smash-and-grab robberies have increased dramatically with a 400 percent spike - 76 percent of those being caught under the age of 18, RNZ reported last month.
