7 Sep 2011

Four charged over Tonga bank robbery

12:00 pm on 7 September 2011

Police in Tonga have charged four men in relation to an armed hold-up at the Ma'ufanga Westpac Bank in the capital on Monday.

The men aged between 30 and 41 years were arrested on Tuesday and charged for conspiring to commit robbery and are due to appear in court on Friday.

The Deputy Commander of Police Taniela Faletau says the incident follows three other armed hold-ups and an attempted robbery in Nuku'alofa over the past three weeks.

"Every robbery is serious to police. And we take it very seriously. Police have been conducting a special operation since the first robberies and now we've accumulated into these arrests yesterday."

Taniela Faletau says more than 17,000 US dollars was stolen from the Westpac Bank and about 180 US dollars was taken from a supermarket last month.