Auckland, Christchurch shops hit by ram raids in night of crime

Auckland and Christchurch retailers are cleaning up on Sunday morning after being hit by ram raiders in an overnight crime spree. Ram raids were reported in the Auckland suburb of Birkenhead and the Christchurch suburbs of Rangiora and Hornby, with the burglaries occurring in a 20-minute crime spree. The first ram raid occurred at 4:30am at Rebel Sports in Hornby, where two vehicles reversed into the building. An employee told Stuff they believed two cars were used to reverse into the building after one vehicle’s initial attempt failed. The vehicles managed to break through the bollards with concrete bases in front of the store, and the force of the entry took out the aluminium framing of the large storefront window.