An Auckland service station owner fears for the lives of his family after police foiled a plot by four teens to blow up his outlet. The teenagers, three aged 16 and one 15, planned to blow up the service station's safe according to media reports. Jaswinder Singh, who owns the Gasoline Alley service station in Te Hana, north of Auckland, said he did not know why his outlet was targeted by the teenagers, but he had taken the threat seriously.
"I am very worried about my family ...
I am not really sleeping well at night," Singh said. One of the youths caught by police on the weekend said he wanted to spend his share of the robbery on firearms to revenge people who had hurt his girlfriend. The youths' plan was well advanced.
The teenagers had downloaded plans to build a bomb from the internet and stolen chemicals from a school. Less than two weeks after the chemicals were stolen they returned to the school and stole laptops and DVD players. The plans were foiled after a parent found a stolen laptop in one of the teenager's bedrooms and alerted police.
The discovery led police to find the stolen chemicals. The Rodney Times newspaper said when police were alerted to the bomb threat they also found comprehensive plans of the service station that showed where security cameras were and an air gun that looked like a genuine pistol. There were also notes on a planned bid to rob a paintball centre and steal guns, ammunition and oxygen canisters.
Acting area commander for Whangarei, Inspector Murray Hodson, played down the threat. Hodson told the newspaper the kids did not realise the seriousness of their actions. "The youths and their parents have been totally cooperative with the inquiry," he said.
"What we are investigating are burglaries, nothing more." Singh said his store was broken into a few weeks ago in an incident that could also be related to the plans. At that time nothing was taken although windows were smashed.
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