Police probe robberies as second dairy targeted

A second Palmerston North dairy has been robbed in a week, with the bandits taking cigarettes both times.

Police were called to the Herbert Ave Dairy in Cloverlea at 7.10am yesterday, a police spokeswoman said.

Four men entered the shop five minutes earlier and threatened the attendant with a baseball bat and hammer.

They stole cigarettes and fled on foot.

A woman who lives near the dairy, who did not want to be named, said she saw a man running across the road past her house after the robbery happened.

‘‘He went so quick.’’

She said the people who owned the dairy had been there for a long time and this was the first time she could remember them being robbed.

The back alleyway, which connects the dairy to the road, was also cordoned off by police tape.

No-one was injured, and police were examining the scene.

It is the second time a Palmerston North dairy has been robbed in the past week, after the Limbrick Maxi Mart was robbed on Saturday.

That dairy was robbed by four men armed with hammers and bats, who stole cash and cigarettes before driving off in a late-model dark-coloured Mitsubishi SUV.

A police spokeswoman said police had spoken with the victim of the Herbert Ave robbery and at this stage there was nothing to suggest the two were linked.

Investigations for both robberies were continuing.