Local pharmacists are on heightened alert after two more armed robberies this Wednesday morning.

Police believe the robberies were the work of different thieves who are out for the same thing — the powerful prescription painkiller Oxycontin.

One Oxycontin tablet will cost about $11 at most pharmacies but on the streets, that same pill can rake in anyone from $50-100 for drug dealers.

Police say the money is the motive for the recent rash of pharmacy robberies. Three in a week — all at Walgreens stores and all involving different suspects armed with guns.

Understandably local pharmacists are on edge. One pharmacist who asked not to be identified says he is taking additional safety precautions and has instructed his staff to cooperate with the demands of any robber, armed or not.

“You never know the state of mind of a person in that situation. Just how desperate are they? Are they using, or are they selling? If someone walks through the door and they are on narcotics, it is a very dangerous situation. So the best thing you can do is to be cooperate,” he said.

Meanwhile, Metro hopes security camera pictures will help police identify and arrest a suspect who also robbed a pharmacist at gunpoint at another Walgreens at Tropicana and Rainbow last Friday.

Fortunately no one was hurt in any of these pharmacy robberies. Metro arrested the suspect in the west Desert Inn robbery, however both suspects from the robbery on west Lake Mead remain on the loose.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 1:36 pm and is filed under Robbery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.