WELLINGTON (TIP): A dairy shop owner of Indian descent and his family were left traumatized after robbers stormed his shop in West Auckland to steal cigarettes and cash. Uresh Patel from Kaurilands said he was at the back of the shop when burglars entered and attacked on Monday, ripping the till from the counter and stealing cigarettes.

“Three kids came in and one jumped over the counter. Two others came from the other side and grabbed the cash register,” Patel told The NZ Herald. “I heard my wife and daughter screaming. I rushed outside and tried to catch one of them but he attacked me and got away,” he said. According to the police, two of the culprits were found and arrested in Glen Eden “without further incident”, and another was held in the store by the public.

“On top of that traumatizing event, we had to deal with the police who came half an hour later, they interrogated us like we are criminals,” Manisha, Patel’s wife, told The NZ Herald. She rued that nothing has changed ever since 34 year-old Janak Patel was stabbed to death in December 2022 by robbers in Sandringham, Auckland, where he worked.

Following Janak’s death, New Zealand erupted in protests with people turning up in huge numbers shouting “enough is enough” and holding placards reading, “change the law”, in front of then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s electoral office in Mt Albert.

Last month, Kanna Sharma’s gas station on Kaurilands Road in Auckland was ram-raided by robbers for a third time in a row.

According to New Zealand government statistics, there were close to 23 ram raids in the Northland region alone until November 20, 2022.