Author: Press Room

A man has been charged after allegedly stealing from an Auckland jewellery store – by swallowing a pendant worth more than $30,000. Police were called to the store in central Auckland around 3.30pm on Friday, Inspector Grae Anderson told 1News.”A man inside the store had allegedly picked up a pendant and swallowed it,” he said. The pendant was a limited-edition Fabergé James Bond Octopussy Egg worth $33,585, according to court documents seen by RNZ. The locket – a nod to the 1983 film featuring the fictional Secret Service spy – featured an 18k yellow gold and green guilloché enamel Fabergé…

A Christchurch-based financial advice provider has had its licence cancelled by the Financial Markets Authority after it found a “serious and deliberate departure from standards” and that it had misled clients.Hope Group Limited previously held a full financial advice provider licence, and provided personal risk insurance advice to retail clients.This included life and health insurance, income protection insurance, and trauma and disability insurance, the authority said.After it was alerted by the impacted insurer – which had terminated its distribution agreement – the authority reviewed 14 insurance policy applications submitted by Hope Group Limited’s sole director and financial adviser, Junpu Wang,…

A Paeroa business has been fined more than $150,000 after migrant workers were forced to work up to 14 hours a day, seven days a week, without being paid their lawful entitlements. Chetna Dave and her husband Hitesh Dave – the directors of Dev Trading Limited (DTL), trading as Super Clearance – recruited two Indian nationals under the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) scheme. Dev Trading has since been sold and is under new management. An investigation into the company revealed that the workers were subjected to unlawful employment practices, Immigration NZ said. It included being required to work extremely…

A man has been taken into custody after he was found hiding under a child’s bed in Auckland – having allegedly run off from police while trying to ditch a gun.Inspector Nina Pedersen said the dramatic scenes began to unfold when officers spotted a speeding vehicle on the Northern Motorway near Puhoi. The vehicle was confirmed as stolen and was tracked speeding off the motorway at Ōrewa, carrying on through Silverdale and south to Albany. The Eagle helicopter then continued monitoring it. The vehicle was spiked on Oteha Valley Rd, and the two men got out of the vehicle on…

By Amy Williams of RNZ In Auckland, businesses near the new Ikea store are steeling themselves for a stampede to the homeware giant’s opening on Thursday. Traffic experts have run their numbers and expect crowds of up to 20,000 a day, with a 40-minute crawl on the nearby motorway and another 40 to find a car park. Ikea’s three-storey blue box consumes a whole block at Mt Wellington, with 544 carparks, close to 37 bike racks and 28 motorbike bays – for those not taking home the flat packs. Just a few doors down, Cloud 777 Cafe manager Vicky John is expecting local roads to…

Police have released the name of the man who was killed in central New Plymouth on November 19.He was Martin James Mooney, aged 68, from New Plymouth.Emergency services were called to the scene on St Aubyn St after a report of an altercation which occurred shortly before 7pm.On police arrival, a man was found with critical injuries.”CPR was performed, however he died at the scene,” a police spokesperson said.A 44-year-old was arrested, and has been charged with Mooney’s murder. He was remanded in custody and is expected to appear in New Plymouth High Court on December 5.Police said the investigation…

The impulse to own a house remains a core driver for many New Zealanders seeking security and future wealth, but a large number think that will never happen, according to a new bank survey. The second Kiwibank State of Home Ownership report showed 85 percent of respondents agreed home ownership was at the core of what it called the “Kiwi Dream”, unchanged from the 2024 report. Confidence in achieving that was improving, but 57 percent still felt locked out of the market, and 46 percent of non-owners said they had “given up hope” of their own house. Kiwibank chief executive Steve Jurkovich said the survey…

Next year’s opening date of the New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC) has been revealed – a milestone which marks the end of a decade-long construction project.SkyCity revealed the date, February 11, earlier this morning as it gave media a tour of the new central Auckland venue. The NZICC project, located on Hobson St in the city centre, is adjacent to Auckland’s Sky Tower and spans 32,500 square metres over four floors. (Source: Supplied)The gambling and entertainment company promised a series of “special events” during the first few weeks of the centre’s operation. The NZICC project, located on Hobson and…

One person has died after a car hit a tree and caught fire off State Highway 5 at Tapapa, near Tīrau, late this morning.Police were notified of the crash at around 10.45am between Harwoods and Tapapa roads. The vehicle caught fire after the impact, with the blaze spreading into nearby vegetation.Hato Hone St John responded to the scene with one ambulance and one operations manager.In an update just after 3pm, police confirmed a person had died.SH5 between the intersection of SH28 and SH5 and the intersection of SH5 and Maraeroa Road was closed following the crash but was reopened just…

Police have charged a man who allegedly used stolen credit card details to purchase more than $1000 worth of petrol from multiple service stations across Auckland. Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Williams said a petrol company manager began receiving notifications of petrol thefts between September 1 and 26. Police said a man was captured on camera filling up various vehicles or walking onto the forecourt to fill jerry cans across nine different service stations, wearing the same clothing during each alleged incident.”Police and the petrol company were able to match the timings of the purchases with CCTV and identify the same…