Police Snippets

 

Thieves target hives
Beehives have become an increasingly popular target for thieves as the price of the sweet liquid gold soars. On August 23, a further ten blue-painted hives were taken from a property on Rahuikuki in Pakiri during the night, an indication of the ongoing problem in Northland and surrounding areas.

Senior Constable Graham Gough says identifying potential hive thieves can be tricky as most thefts are committed under the cover of darkness, the same time beekeepers move their hives due to the bees inactivity at night.

“We want to urge people to keep an eye out for any suspicious behaviour around beehives or vehicles, especially utes and trailers that maybe carrying hives especially after dark,” he says. “Write down vehicle registration numbers and report any information to the police. It may be harmless but at least we can check it out.”

Generally most beehives have registration numbers printed on the wooden hive boxes which thieves usually burn so it is important that the honey grids inside also have identifying numbers.

In July this year beehives worth $500,000 were stolen from Topuni Forest, and in 2015 a Mangawhai man stole $10,000 worth of honey which he managed to sell on to commercial supermarkets.

Arrest warrant issued
Although fugitive Joshua Kite has been located and arrested, Mark Andrew Fletcher is still on the run after fleeing a Northland property on August 25. The 39-year-old has a warrant out for his arrest for breach of Court release conditions, an alleged domestic assault, breach of a protection order, assaults and attempted kidnapping.

Detective Sergeant Megan Goldie say Police are appealing for him to hand himself in.

“We’ve been told by a family member that they really want him to come out of hiding and hand himself in to police as they’re concerned for his wellbeing,” Goldie says.

Fletcher is now believed to be hiding in the Rodney district. He has extensive contacts and police have been informed that he may now be armed.

“We ask that people should not approach him if sighted and instead contact police immediately on 111.”

Graffiti on the rise

Graffiti around Mangawhai is on the increase with road signs, bare walls and equipment at the Mangawhai Activity Zone showing a range of signatures and scribbles.

Police advise people to take a photo of any graffiti they find and send the photo and location details to police before removing the inscriptions. The information is logged into a graffiti database used to check signatures and identify culprits.

“We’ve been absolutely blessed that we haven’t had a lot of graffiti,” Senior Constable Gough says, “The local kids seem to be staunchly against it.”

- REPORTING/Julia Wade