Police are searching for a group of thieves who allegedly ram-raided a Thames shopping centre overnight with five vehicles.
Detective Senior Sergeant Kristine Clarke said police are investigating the burglary at the Goldfields Shopping Centre on Mary Street in Thames at around 2:10am after multiple alarms were activated.
Five vehicles were used to raim raid the entrance of the shopping centre and were driven "carelessly through the premises".
"Significant damage was caused, and an unknown amount of goods and money were stolen," Det Insp Clarke said.
The offenders fled the scene a short time later but police have so far recovered three vehicles involved in the ram raid.
Goldfields Shopping Centre manager John Freer told NZ Herald the thieves "smashed" a set of doors inside the mall and damaged the vape shop and computer kiosk before driving out the other entrance by "smashing through the doors".
He said the centre would be shut on Thursday excluding the shops that had external access - The Warehouse, Mcdonald's drive-through, and the pharmacy.
Det Insp Clarke said police are continuing to follow "positive lines of enquiry".
"Police are conducting a scene examination this morning and are working to identify and locate those involved," Det Insp Clarke said.
"Anyone with information that can assist police with our enquiries is asked to contact us on 105 or online at 'Update Report' referencing file number 230706/3546. Information can also be shared anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111."
It comes after two people were seriously injured in an aggravated robbery at a Mt Albert Road dairy in Auckland on Wednesday afternoon.
The victims were attacked by a pair of hammer-wielding robbers.
Sandringham Business Association chair Jithin Chittibomma told AM the community is frightened, frustrated and reeling from the attack.
"What else can you do? As chair of the Business Association, I have personally given feedback to the Government and we've told them retail crime is on the up," Chittibomma said.
"This has been going on since mid-late 2021 so what else can we do? We're obviously very frustrated."
He said the dairy owner was "very shaken" by the latest robbery.
"[The community is] obviously very concerned for shopkeepers. This particular dairy, the owner has owned it for 15 years so obviously he's connected to the community.
"There is great concern and I also think there is [a] great deal of frustration within the community as well."
