A group of teenagers have been arrested after attempting to steal from a dairy in Auckland's Manurewa, and hitting the shop owner.
Police say they responded to reports of an "attempted shoplifting" at the dairy on Browns Road on Friday.
Four youths have been taken into custody as a result, believed to be aged between 14-15.
Mizanur Rahman, the owner of the shop told 1News four people were involved in the shoplifting, and said they also "beat" him.
"I said take what you want, take everything and don't hit me. And they started hitting me.
"They had one metal stick and one little piece of timber."
He said members of the public ended up jumping in to help him.
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An eyewitness shared details of the robbery with 1News. They said the offenders had a duffle bag filled with cigarettes.
“Two had weapons, two without. One driver got away," the eyewitness said.
“They had hurt the dairy owner. He fought back then two of them locked themselves in the back of the shop with weapons until others of the community managed to get them out. They were very young."
It comes after a dairy in the Auckland suburb of Penrose was robbed on Thursday night, for the second time in 12 days. The thieves stole around $15,000 worth of cigarettes.
Four children, one as young as seven, were also caught attempting to steal from a Hamilton shopping centre on Thursday.
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