A 9-year-old is believed to be involved in one of many groups of youth offenders behind a series of car thefts and burglaries in Christchurch.

Early Thursday morning a group of youths allegedly stole about $3000 worth of alcohol from a store in Christchurch before fleeing in a stolen car.

Police were called and observed the car before deploying road spikes which brought the car, with six youths inside, to a stop.

A police spokesperson said six youths were taken into custody. The Herald understands one of the youths had allegedly cut off their electronically-monitored bail bracelet.

It’s understood the youths ranged from 13-16 years of age.

The incident comes amid a spree of youth offending in Christchurch by several groups of youth offenders.

The Herald understands that among the groups is a 9-year-old who is suspected of being involved in at least two incidents in the last week involving stolen cars. In one of the incidents, a BB-gun was fired from a vehicle, injuring someone in the eye.

Canterbury metro area commander Superintendent Lane Todd told the Herald police attended a number of incidents which allegedly involved the same group of young people on Monday and Tuesday, including a fleeing driver incident on Tuesday where a vehicle they were in failed to stop when signalled.

“The vehicle fled and a pursuit was not initiated, and the vehicle was located crashed a short time later. There were no injuries and four young people were taken into custody. They have been referred to Youth Services.”

The Herald is aware of several incidents involving the groups in recent weeks including youths driving in a convoy of stolen cars before one crashed into a lamppost, and others using crowbars to try and break into a dairy before ramming the doors with a stolen car.

One evening police found two youths suspected of stealing a car with fishing knives, a tyre iron and vise grips. The youths were taken home, however several hours later they were found after allegedly trying to break into a car. Some police cars have also been rammed by youths.

A police source told the Herald staff were seeing a “continual drop in age” in youth offenders.

“I think that’s a very concerning aspect because for us it’s now dropping very strongly into that non-prosecutable group and that’s causing us headaches because we can’t bring any control to that, we can’t bring any meaningful accountability.

“There is still the activeness of the higher age level which just continues on as it always has, but this younger group what we are seeing is just that repetitive nature of their offending because they’re getting caught, they’re getting returned home and they’re out and gone within hours and back into the offending.”

Todd said youth offending is an issue that is being experienced right across the country at present, with Canterbury “no exception”.

“Police is committed to working with our partners and communities to prevent youth offending, support victims of crime, and hold young offenders to account in a meaningful and effective way.

“Effectively dealing with youth offenders provides a unique opportunity to prevent future harm in our communities.”

Police were involved in a number of initiatives aimed at preventing youth offending and reoffending.

“We recognise that in order to prevent future generations of young people from serious harm, we need to work in a collaborative way to address the underlying causes of youth offending.”