{"id":376972,"date":"2026-04-13T06:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T06:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/376972\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T06:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T06:52:08","slug":"kaikohe-gliding-club-break-in-northland-man-charged-over-250k-damage-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/376972\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaikohe Gliding Club break-in: Northland man charged over $250k damage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis equipment is essential to keeping the gliding club operational,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Kaikohe Aerodrome, built in 1942 as a United States Marine Corps bomber base, has the largest grass airstrip in the Southern Hemisphere, with the gliding club responsible for mowing and maintaining it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a volunteer group who rely entirely on goodwill,\u201c Armstrong said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a massive blow and has really hurt them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe volunteer-run club was left reeling after the site was left with thousands of dollars of damage last month. Photo \/ Kaikohe Gliding Club<\/p>\n

A 28-year-old man has been charged in connection to the burglary and is due to appear in the Kaikohe District Court on April 21.<\/p>\n

Armstrong said the man faces 21 charges relating to a series of rural thefts in the Mangakahia and Awarua areas. <\/p>\n

The charges include 12 of burglary, two of theft of a motor vehicle, intentional damage, unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, receiving and theft. <\/p>\n

Police also found industrial drill parts worth $40,000, allegedly stolen.<\/p>\n

Armstrong said the equipment had been imported from the United States by a Northland earth mining company.<\/p>\n

\"SeniorSenior Sergeant Clem Armstrong returns $40,000 worth of drilling equipment to a Northland worker. Photo \/ NZ Police<\/p>\n

The investigation is ongoing, with police looking at who else might be involved. <\/p>\n

Tyler was happy to hear an arrest had been made but wanted to know where the club\u2019s $80,000 tractor-mower was as it had not been recovered.<\/p>\n

The club had been well-supported after the break-in, with a member lending it a tractor and the Auckland Gliding Club providing a glider for the winter. <\/p>\n

It was also able to borrow a lawn mower.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be flying in a couple of weeks, I\u2019d say,\u201d Tyler said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s looking good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armstrong said reporting incidents helped police build a picture of what was taking place in an area. <\/p>\n

\u201cPlease report suspicious behaviour and any vehicles of concern, including number plates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whang\u0101rei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThis equipment is essential to keeping the gliding club operational,\u201d he said. The Kaikohe Aerodrome, built in 1942…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[96295,168541,1554,1558,61686,8604,13239,18836,22510,168369,42,30616,5158,130,43,1067,1523,38988,131,1361,40,38,41,39,19985],"class_list":{"0":"post-376972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-96295","9":"tag-250k","10":"tag-alleged","11":"tag-been","12":"tag-breakin","13":"tag-caused","14":"tag-charged","15":"tag-club","16":"tag-damage","17":"tag-gliding","18":"tag-headlines","19":"tag-kaikohe","20":"tag-man","21":"tag-more","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-northland","24":"tag-over","25":"tag-relation","26":"tag-than","27":"tag-that","28":"tag-top-news","29":"tag-top-stories","30":"tag-topnews","31":"tag-topstories","32":"tag-worth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}