Police hunt a smalls time crook
JOCKS AND ROBBERS: Pharmacy hold-up undie investigation
SUPERHEROES wear capes. And villains, in one case at least, wear undies on their heads.
Police are seeking a man who attempted to rob a Biggera Waters pharmacy on Monday night wearing a pair of Jackeroo jocks over his face, socks over his hands and brandishing a hammer.
Owner Amin Javanmard said the attempted armed robber limped into his Broadwater Pharmacy shop at about 7.10pm.
“I saw this guy coming with his face covered (and with what) looked like a pole in his hand,” he said.
“I went to the counter to block his entry.”
The man, who has been described as solid and about 178cm tall, demanded Mr Javanmard hand over the schedule eight drugs on the premises, which include codeine, methadone, morphine and other opioids.
Mr Javanmard refused and told the man the panic button had been pressed.
Closed-circuit television shows the man left with glimpses of the elastic band of the underwear covering his face on the way out.
The elastic band read “Jackeroo”, a brand which can be bought on eBay for $32 for a three-pack.
Mr Javanmard said he watched the man limp down Brighton St and waited 18 minutes for police to arrive.
“We get threatened so often on this job and there are no consequences for anybody (who does it),” he said.
“We get news reports of other towns where pharmacies have been held up where police are on it (quickly) but around here they barely attend.”
Mr Javanmard said he didn’t understand, when the Gold Coast was swarming with police for the Commonwealth Games, why an armed robber was able to limp off.
He also didn’t know why the attending police officers were from Nerang Station while Southport and Runaway Bay stations were closer.
A Queensland Police spokeswoman said at the time of the call there was a high demand for police assistance involving high-priority emergencies, including a stealing with violence incident and a domestic violence incident.
“The call was immediately allocated to the closest available crew which attended to the incident within 14 minutes,” she said.
The attempted armed robbery was the second within a matter of minutes on the Gold Coast, with a service station also held up by a man carrying a hammer.
The man involved in that armed robbery entered the Elysium Rd, Carrara service station at 7.25pm as an employee was attending to a customer.
The robber – who was wearing long dark pants, a black floppy hat and a bright orange shirt – entered the rear counter section, opened the cash register and took some money.
He also took some cigarettes before fleeing on foot.
WE GET THREATENED SO OFTEN ON THIS JOB AND THERE ARE NO CONSEQUENCES FOR ANYBODY (WHO DOES IT) AMIN JAVANMARD