TRIO NABBED AFTER HOAX 111 CALL MADE
By Rose Daly
© Marlborough Express 13/03/2008
Three new arrivals to Blenheim are lucky police didn’t throw the book at them after the men allegedly made a hoax 111 call last night to divert emergency services from a crime scene.
“If any genuine emergency calls had been made at the time and we were unable to attend, more serious charges would have been laid,” Sergeant Dan Mattison said.
The three men, aged 20, 25 and 45 years, have been charged with theft and using a telephone for fictitious purpose after being caught with a pile of tarpaulins.
“At about 10.00pm last night, volunteer fire fighters saw three men interfering with the tarpaulins in front of the PGG Wrightson shop in Symons Street opposite the fire station.
When the firemen confronted the trio, they left the area. A short time later, however, a 111 call was made from a telephone box on High Street with a caller claiming there was a truck accident south of the Montana winery.
Fire appliances from Blenheim and Seddon were dispatched, along with police and ambulance services. They couldn’t find any accident and the fire service volunteers then told police of the trio’s suspicious behaviour outside PGG Wrightson. A description of the three men was passed to police patrols who found the men before midnight on the banks of the Opawa River with the tarpaulins. Police allege the men had returned to the shop to steal the tarpaulins when the fire service answered the spurious 111 call. The three had arrived in Blenheim earlier yesterday. Their first night’s accommodation was in a police cell and they will appear in the Blenheim District Court today.
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