Indian business owners planning to arm themselves

A group representing hundreds of Indian business owners says shopkeepers should consider holding firearms behind the counter in the face of a spate of dairy robberies.

The Auckland Indian Association says young people have no fear of police or the consequences if they're caught, but police are calling for calm.

"They don't care, because it's happened three or four times. They don't care," Jasu Patel, owner of Hillside Superette in Papatoetoe, told Newshub.

The thieves - young men - hit the store at 7am on Monday. A store man was held on the ground while another owner, Kishore, managed to stay out of harm's way.

When brute force failed to bring down the security cage, in came the slimmer, more nimble of the crew. Gripping a black wheel jack, he went to work. In a matter of seconds he had offloaded $7000 worth of cigarettes.

It's the latest in a string of attacks. One in Mt Roskill a week ago left two people in hospital.

Newshub revealed on Monday night one of the 13-year-olds arrested ended up being referred to CYF, and then just ran away. 

"I think they've got no worries about the police because the law is such that they can get away with it," says Suresh Ramji, vice president of the Manukau Indian Association.

He says business owners are fed up and he's been talking to shopkeepers who plan to start carrying firearms.

"How else can they protect themselves?" he told Newshub.

"It's a sad day in New Zealand when you think of a shop owner carrying firearms instead of ice creams and cigarettes and other goods, but he's got to protect himself."

Police say taking up arms is not the solution.

"We just do not want to go down that journey. If dairy owners start arming themselves it will just start a war out there and it will escalate," Inspector Dave Glossop said.

Police accept it's a problem and say the severity of crimes committed by young people is increasing. But they say stopping this requires not just police work, but work from the community and parents too.

Newshub.