Footprints in snow lead to New Zealand ice cream thieves

The trail might have been cold but police did not need dogs to track two burglars in Oamaru - they just followed the footprints in the snow. Minutes after the 39-year-old man and his 17-year-old apprentice fled with their chilled booty - ice cream - they were in police custody.

The two burglars were caught out by the "oldest trick in the book", Senior Constable Bruce Dow of Oamaru police said. Police were called at about 3.15am after a burglary at the Itchen St Dairy and followed the snowy trail to Orwell St, where the two were found.



It was "good police work", which led to the pair being caught but it "wasn't that difficult" to follow the trail, he said. Dairy owner Kerry Tong, who lives above the store with his wife and two young children, was woken by the burglars trying to break the front window.

He saw the men fleeing with two boxes of ice creams. "The street was white. You could see the footsteps," he said. The man and youth were charged with burglary and released on bail when they appeared in the Oamaru District Court.