What's New

Police hunt ‘reckless’ golf course pipe-bomber

Flagstaff Team

Discovery of the remnants of an exploded pipe bomb on Pupuke Golf Club course appear to have solved the mystery of explosions being heard by Forrest Hill residents during Level 4 lockdown.

Waitemata East police, who called in the Eagle helicopter after the first reports of explosions, have slammed the “dangerous and reckless” behaviour of those responsible.

Waitemata East area commander Inspector Stef Sagar said the first reports of loud bangs came on 24 August. “The Eagle helicopter was immediately deployed to the area but nothing of note was located. Police also received reports relating to loud bangs on Friday night (3 September) and again on Sunday night (5 September).”

Inquiries indicated that the loud noises had happened occasionally in the area over several weeks, Sagar said.

Police were notified on Monday last week that the remnants of a bomb had been found and were recovered for further examination. “The remnants of a small home-made pipe bomb was located on one of the fairways, which had some minor damage to the grass.”

Follow-up inquiries were being made, including analysis of the bomb remnants the item and speaking to locals. No arrests have been made at this stage, Sagar said.

“While this may be some people fooling around, this is dangerous and reckless behaviour and it’s even more disappointing that this is occurring during Alert Level 4, when everyone else in our community has been working hard to comply with the restrictions and is doing the right thing.”

Resident Jennifer Hill, who lives down the road from the golf course, said she and her boyfriend heard loud bangs in the middle of the night, around the time of the New Lynn Countdown attack. “First he thought that it sounded more like a bomb and we were like ‘What the heck is going on?’” They had looked on the internet to see if there were any news reports or information on the police website, she said.

“I think we heard three of them but on different nights.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 105, quoting file number 210906/1891, or to call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

• Linwood Reserve in Forrest Hill has been damaged again by hoons driving a vehicle onto the grass during lockdown, cutting it up with tyre tracks.

Police are investigating the vandalism that happened overnight on Tuesday 7 September. Sunnynook community centre manager Bronwyn Bound suggested the council should install bollards.


The Rangitoto Observer can be downloaded online here.

Please consider supporting The Rangitoto Observer by clicking here: