$6k lost in surf solar theft

Surf Life Saving officials are coming to grips with the theft of $6000 worth of essential surf lifesaving equipment, compromising search and rescue efforts in the Coromandel and Northern Bay of Plenty.

Last night, solar panels for the emergency radio network were stolen from the radio repeater site on the Whangamata peninsula.


The stolen solar panels are worth $6000. Photo: File.

Surf Life Saving New Zealand lifesaving manager Allan Mundy says the theft is devastating right before summer.

He says: 'The replacement cost of the equipment is around $6,000, which is tough for a voluntary organisation, but it's not just the monetary value of the theft.

'Due to the custom nature of the gear, it will take three to four weeks to construct the brackets needed to hold the panels onto the antenna site.

'This is going to severely compromise our lifeguarding operations over the busiest time of year - the Christmas holidays.”

The site was set up about eight weeks ago, requiring a large truck and trailer and cherry picker to get the gear into place.

Allan believes it must have taken a small group of people to undertake the theft and they must have been on site for a good couple of hours.

'Hopefully someone has seen something and can help us locate the missing equipment.” He adds.

'If we can even just get those brackets back, then we can get the system up and running again as soon as possible.

This is the second theft of essential surf lifesaving equipment this month.

On December 2, two quad bikes, newly installed radio equipment, a rescue board and some first aid gear were stolen from Pukehina Surf Rescue.

At 4.30am the club was broken into through a side door, with the stolen equipment estimated to be worth about $30,000.

Less than 48 hours later the rescue board and one of the blue Yamaha quad bikes were recovered following public sightings.

Anyone who has information about the Whangamata theft is urged to contact police immediately.

Contact Whangamata Police on: (07) 858-6200 or anonymously contact Crimestoppers on: 0800 555 111.

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1 comment

Scum

Posted on 19-12-2014 16:17 | By Savi

Hopefully they will be caught, named and shamed, and not be dealt with leniently. If the theft endangers any bodies safety they should be charged with that too.


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