Taradale dairy owners shaken after the brazen raid of armed robbers for cigarettes

A 21-year-old woman was floored in fear as four people, wielding a panoply of weapons, stole her parents' Taradale cheese factory.

On Sunday at 7 pm, four people entered the Bellevue Dairy in Gloucester. They were armed with knives, metal bars and a hockey stick.

"They came by the front and told us to come down, my father was urging me to go to him, but one of the guys was standing above me. Patel, who is still traumatized by the event

"When the opportunity was open, I ran backwards, everything was just a race – that's He arrived so quickly. "

His father, Vilash Patel, recalls the offenders shouting, "We came to steal … We will not hit you, just stay in the corner."

He was going between the workshop and the pantry filling lollipop containers when
incident occurred

"I was really scared, they started to crush the place and put all the fumes In bags, he was gone. "

He and his wife, Kirti, owned various dairies for the last 26 years and have never been stolen.

Vilash Patel believes thieves took over $ 25,000 worth of tobacco and cigarettes Napier Dairy

Kirti Patel was cooking at home when her daughter rang to say that they had been stolen.

"I was just coming from my home and at that time the police were already there," she says. "It's a busy shop – people come in and out, but it was raining and it became a little quieter. I think they were waiting outside until there was more than [customers].

She hinted that the increase in the price of cigarettes was causing more thefts of dairy cows.

However, the sale of cigarettes is their livelihood. A police spokesperson said the four offenders were heavily disguised and were stealing a significant amount of cigarettes and tobacco

"Offenders are thought to be between 18 and 25 years old. old and left the scene in an older model Ford Falcon, red southward towards EIT [Eastern Institute of Technology].

Anyone who has information that might help is asked to contact Hawke's Bay Police at (06) 831 0700 Sergeant Craig Vining or Detective Hamish Urquhart can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers at 0800 555 111.