Crikey! There’s a croc in Clevedon

In a scene that would have made the late Steve Irwin proud, members of the Papakura Tactical Crime Response Unit recently went bush in Clevedon in search of a crocodile.

Staff knew the beast was caught when a cry went up from a colleague. Fellow officers rushed to his assistance to find the croc pinned to the ground.

When the adrenaline stopped pumping and the dust settled, it turned out the man-eater was in fact a realistic three-metre fibreglass crocodile stolen from the roof of a local car dealer in Takanini 12 months ago.

Four suspects were arrested for theft and cultivating cannabis. Apparently, the main suspect thought the croc would make a nice feature in his pond.

But that’s before the Papakura Tactical Croc Rescue Unit came to the beast’s rescue, returning it to its proper habitat in the best interests of justice and endangered species.

Now that's a better work story!