Hold-ups are fairly common place in New Zealand, so much so we can’t keep up with them all. Sometimes they happen when the bars, corner shops, pharmacies, clubs and banks, even hairdressers, are crowded with customers. Sometimes people get injured (or worse) but they’re so frequent that we seldom mention them these days. Also, police in New Zealand tend not to release crime details to the media, unless they have to (all part of making the community feel safer).

This latest hold-up is particularly interesting because there’s such a good set of photos of the perps, and because it happened on 16 November last year but the photos have only just been published in the press. Better late than never, but why the long delay? Is it, perhaps because the publicity could have resulted in copy-cats but police now need the public’s help because they’re at a dead end?

First, here’s a Google Street view of the restaurant

next, these are some of the images the police released

The robbery took place at The Happy Days restaurant on the Great South Road in Manurewa Auckland at 9.20am on 16 November 2015.

Two men, one brandishing a sawn-off shotgun, and a women were filmed during the robbery. One of the men searched the bar area while the other man tried to open the cash registers.

The woman was also filmed in the restaurant.

Police said they left the bar in a stolen red Mitsubishi Colt registration HWJ67. A fourth person was waiting in the car as a getaway driver.

“The vehicle drove off at speed turning left onto Great South Rd and in the direction of Browns Rd. The vehicle is yet to be located,” a police spokeswoman said…(Stuff.co.nz)

Terrifying Armed Raid in 2011

The Happy Days Restaurant is no stranger to armed violence. In 2011 three men were handed long sentences after they held a shotgun on terrified customers during a robbery in the Chartwell Kiwibank and Post Shop in Hamilton in December 2009. The men got away with $7,000.

A week after the Hamilton robbery one of the gang ( a man from Pareroa) robbed the Happy Days Restuarant in Manuerwa of $3,000 using similar tactics to the Hamilton robbery with a weapon and stolen vehicle. A month after that he went on to hold up the Trident Tavern in Onehunga using the same MO.

You may also be intetrested in

Trident Tavern hold-up, another armed robbery in New Zealand (E2NZ.org January 2010)

We were shocked to learn that there has been another armed robbery in a business premises.

The Trident Tavern in Onehunga  was held up at gun point at around 10am this morning. Fortunately, according to a Herald report, the police caught may have already caught the offenders because they are questioning two people in connection with the attack..

There has been a worrying trend in armed robberies taking place in premises frequented by the public over the last year, these have included numerous dairies. Taverns, clubs, banks, a brothel and even a hairdressing salon have also been targeted. We think that this is the 8th such robbery this month. For details of other incidents click on the link “Armed Robberies“.