Builders' tools are going missing across Christchurch, from small hand-held drills to large diggers.
As more construction gets underway across the city, the number of building site burglaries reported to police is increasing.
Now authorities are investigating whether the thieves are just opportunists or part of a more serious organised crime ring.
Greg Mathias used to own two yellow diggers, but a fortnight ago his transporter truck carrying his second five-and- a-half-tonne digger was stolen from outside a Christchurch building site - $180,000 worth of gear gone.
"[I'm] absolutely gutted, you work so hard to pay off the gear and get it working for you, and for someone to take it really throws that out the window," says Mr Mathias.
His truck was found burnt out, but the digger is still missing. And it's not the only thing being stolen from building sites across the city. On Tuesday night around $35,000 worth of tools were stolen from HRS Construction's onsite storage container.
"They took the padlock, and when I came onto site I found the door wide open," says HRS worker Max Sykes.
Those in the industry believe the burglaries are a result of the post-earthquake building boom.
"As things have increased definitely there's been an influx of different people to town, there's more jobs going on, there's more opportunity definitely," says HRS Construction's Richard Gibb.
Police are now investigating whether some of the thefts could be part of an organised crime ring, as Christchurch's construction industry has been targeted before.
"We saw a similar trend back in 2004/2005 where we had a boom in the housing industry with just the sheer volume of new builds and target places for offenders to go and grab stuff," says Detective Senior Sergeant Corrie Parnell.
Stolen tools have been offered for sale on the internet and police have recovered others from pawn shops, but just what's happened to the big yellow digger has them puzzled.
3 News
source: newshub archive
