NZ police hunt ‘butt plug bandits’

Police in New Zealand are hunting a pair of brazen shoplifters dubbed the “butt plug bandits” after raiding a sex shop.

An employee at the Peaches and Cream adult store in Lower Hutt, 10 miles north of Wellington, told Newshub that the two “rugged-looking” women were stopped by staff on Sunday evening as they attempted to walk out of the store with bulging bags.

One looked “pretty scared”, the employee said, and handed over a product taken from the store. However, the other suspect “refused to open her bag and left with unpaid-for merchandise”.

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In all, the women are thought to have made off with items worth around £350, including a vibrator, a leopard print dress and two “anal climaxers”.

Police told Newshub that a report has been filed and that officers have completed “initial forensic analysis” of the crime scene.

CCTV images of the suspects “have been widely shared on social media, with many identifying them as being responsible for other thefts in the region”, the New Zealand Herald reports.

The CEO of Peaches and Cream, who was not identified in the press, told the Herald that shoplifting is an “ongoing thing at the moment” across its 12 stores but admitted she was baffled by the trend.

“I don't know why people feel the need to shoplift sex toys. It's not like they're a necessity or anything,” she said.

The company has starting posting images of shoplifting suspects on its Facebook page to shame offenders and deter would-be thieves.

"It really helps. Some people come back and pay for the products, to get their photo taken down," she said, adding: “We don't normally want them back.”