Police bust alleged pharmacy robbery ring

Christchurch police have nabbed two men they allege are responsible for a spate of armed robberies at pharmacies around the city.

Police were called to the Bealey Pharmacy on the corner of Colombo Street and Bealey Avenue, Christchurch, at 6pm on Friday evening following a knife-point robbery during which a large quantity of controlled drugs were stolen.

Two offenders made off in a stolen car but police caught them at the intersection of Papanui Road and Bealey Avenue.

The two persons arrested were a 48 year old unemployed male and a 45 year old unemployed male both from Addington. 

They will appear in the Christchurch District Court on Saturday 31st July 2010.

Police allege the two men are also responsible for the the knife-point robberies of the St Martins Pharmacy on June 29 and the Woodham Road Pharmacy on July 14, where they say large quantities of controlled drugs were also stolen.

The arrests come on the same day as another pharmacy robbery in St Albans.

Earlier on Friday, police were hunting for an armed man who held up Bastins Pharmacy on Innes Road.

They later surrounded a house in Packe St, St Albans, but were unable to catch the offender.

It is understood a man entered Bastin's Pharmacy on Innes Road around 1pm, demanding morphine. He left with a quantity of the drug.

Police have not said whether or not the men charged with the other three pharmacy robberies are also implicated in the Innes Road offence.

The incident is the latest in a string of robberies in the city recently.

On Friday June 18 two men robbed the Avonhead ANZ bank, taking an amount ''in the vicinity of thousands'' of dollars.  

On Saturday June 26 two men robbed a New Zealand Post Shop at gunpoint..

Later that day the owner of the Leithfield pub was tied up at gunpoint during an armed robbery at 11.30pm.

- © Fairfax NZ News