A trio of young men have been charged following an alleged crime spree in Northland.
It comes after a series of aggravated robberies and burglaries across the region in recent weeks.
Whangārei Area Commander Inspector Maria Nordstrom said the alleged offenders, aged 16 and 19, were allegedly in stolen vehicles when they came to police attention on Thursday afternoon.
"Two stolen vehicles were travelling through Ngunguru and our staff attempted to signal these vehicles to stop, one vehicle stopped with the other attempting to evade police," Nordstrom said.
But the alleged offenders didn't get too far thanks to Tutukaka locals who pointed out where they had gone.
"Police have been investigating a range of dishonesty and violent offences that have taken place in our district in recent weeks," Nordstrom said.
"We have now reached a point in this investigation where we have charged them for 18 separate offences."
Those charges include aggravated robbery for incidents at a Paihia tavern on August 27 and a Tikipunga dairy on September 3.
Burglary charges have also been laid for offences at two retail stores in Whangārei on August 20 and Kerikeri on September 5.
The trio are now before the Whangārei District Court and Youth Court.
Police said further charges cannot be ruled out.
"Police continue to take a dim view on this brazen and often violent offending being inflicted on our community," Nordstrom said.
"We will continue to utilise all tools available to us to hold offenders to account."
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