Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER
Two Northland teens have been arrested after allegedly stealing a car and threatening shoppers with a machete during a failed robbery.
Senior Sergeant Mark Barratt, of Mid-North police, said the offenders targeted a service station on Moerewa's main street just before 7pm on Tuesday.
The youths were wearing ski masks and one was brandishing a machete.
Barratt said staff and a customer were threatened before the pair took cigarettes and left in two stolen vehicles.
Police found the cars dumped a short time later in Kaikohe and located two youths at a nearby house.
Officers also found a bag containing the stolen cigarettes.
Barratt said a 13 and 14-year-old appeared in the Kaikohe Youth Court on Wednesday charged with aggravated robbery and unlawfully taking a motor vehicle.
They were due back in court on 31 July.
"In this instance no one has sustained injuries as a result of the brazen offending," Barratt said.
"This was good work by our staff in locating these two in a timely matter ... we will continue to hold to account those who think this type of offending is acceptable."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
