Staff and punters at gaming venues across Melbourne’s north and west have been terrorised in a spate of increasingly violent armed robberies.
Armed crime squad detectives believe the same group of men is responsible for 15 armed robberies and attempted armed robberies at venues in St Albans, Keilor, Laverton, Craigieburn, Roxburgh Park, Epping and Brunswick between December 7 last year and March 7 this year.
On January 20, Club Laverton in Aviation Road was robbed at gunpoint for the third time in seven months after three men armed with a firearm and machete stormed the venue about 8.25pm.
Club Laverton was also held up on June 8 last year.
Its TAB was robbed by three masked men on October 20, when one customer had a gun held to his head.
Police said up to four men were involved in each incident.
They have entered venues armed with shotguns, rifles, handguns and edged weapons, leaving with substantial sums of cash.
A security guard was struck with a firearm and received stitches to his face during the most recent armed robbery, at a pokies venue in Roxburgh Park on March 7.
In another incident on February 18, robbers left in a stolen vehicle and later carjacked another vehicle from a woman and her young daughter, threatening them at gunpoint.
The armed crime taskforce’s Detective Inspector Steve Clark said no shots had been fired during the robberies.
Inspector Clark said the crimes had been well-planned, with those involved acting out clear roles.
“Armed robbery by its very nature is a violent crime, but when we have a 12-year-old girl confronted with a firearm, when a guard is badly hurt, we’re concerned not only that they are violent but that the violence is escalating,” Inspector Clark said.
“They’re particularly violent, they’re particularly traumatic for the victims involved, they’re traumatic for the staff that work at those venues.”
Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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