Mobs of teenagers have stormed several New York City pharmacies to overpower workers, snatch prescription drugs and then escape in the past month in a string of targeted robberies.
In less than a month, five Duane Reade pharmacies in Manhattan and a pharmacy in Brooklyn have been targeted by teenagers who jump over counters and escape with the help of opioids such as codeine and oxycodone, as well as the antihistamine drug promethazine, police reported the New York Post.
The police are investigating whether the same group of teenagers is behind a string of robberies; According to the police, the thieves do not have a system of capture and flight.
“They know what they want, come and go quickly,” a Manhattan cop told the Post. “Maybe they’re just selling them for a quick buck.”
The police are investigating whether the same group of teenagers are behind a string of robberies, but report that the thieves have a broken system.
In less than a month, five Duane Reade pharmacies in Manhattan and a pharmacy in Brooklyn have been targeted by groups of teen robbers. Police said gangs of teenagers are escaping with codeine and other drugs, including oxycodone and promethazine.
Hell’s Kitchen Rite Aid closed in February after $200,000 worth of goods were stolen in December and January.
Police believe the stolen drugs are sold on the black market, where thieves also resell stolen non-drug pharmacy items for a fraction of their retail price.
In New York, the Midtown Rite Aid store closed earlier this year after $200,000 worth of merchandise was stolen in just two months. CVS is also suffering from a 300 percent increase in retail theft nationwide since the start of the pandemic, confirmed.
The most recent drug theft targets were two Manhattan Duane Reeds, two miles apart, 12 minutes apart. On Wednesday, a group of thieves attacked the Duane Reade store at 2069 Broadway shortly before 5:20 pm.
The robbers pretended to have a gun and asked, “Where’s the oxycodone?” According to the Post, they fled in a car.
A few minutes earlier, four teenagers had committed a similar robbery at the nearby Duane Reade mall at 1231 Madison Avenue.
On Tuesday, a gang of thieves robbed Cala’s drugstore in Brownsville. The groups attacked Duane Reade in Greenwich Village on 16 March, one in Chelsea on 7 March, and Duane Reade in Battery Park on 28 February.
Retailers are pushing for tougher penalties against shoplifters as a wave of crime sweeps across the country, including in New York City, where a Rite Aid store in midtown Manhattan closed its doors last month after just two months of stolen merchandise. for $200,000.
“They come every day, sometimes twice a day, with laundry bags and just loaded up with stuff,” an employee at the now-closed Hell’s Kitchen Pharmacy, which used to be open 24 hours a day, told the New York Post.
“They take whatever they want and there is nothing we can do about it. That’s why the store is closing. They can’t afford to keep it open.
CVS is also suffering from a 300 percent increase in retail theft since the start of the pandemic, confirmed on Friday.
Retail leaders, already hard hit by the effects of the pandemic, labor shortages and supply chain disruptions, say theft is out of control and security guards have their hands tied as they are ordered to “watch and report.” and avoid physical contact with criminals.
Retailers and citizens are calling on state attorneys general and Congress to take action by passing new legislation, tightening laws on bail reform and felony thresholds, and creating dedicated teams to combat shoplifting.
The most recent targets were two Manhattan Duane Reades that were hit two miles apart, 12 minutes apart.
CVS has seen a 300 percent increase in retail theft since the start of the pandemic (pictured: empty shelves at a CVS store on the Upper East Side in January).
Retailers are demanding tougher penalties from lawmakers against shoplifters as a wave of crime sweeps across the country, including in New York (pictured: Dwayne Reed in Soho in October)
Things have gone so badly that the head of New York’s largest supermarket chain announced last month that he was hiring extra security to deal with thieves after a 50 percent spike in shoplifting.
He blames the rise in shoplifting on bail reform and new policies by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who says he won’t prosecute some crimes and downgrades others.
John Catsimatidis, owner and CEO of Gristedes/D’Agostino’s, told that he is so disappointed that the authorities are doing nothing to fix the problem that they are taking it upon themselves.
He says he’s noticed a 50 percent spike in shoplifting at his stores over the past year, costing him “several million” dollars.
Catsimatidis said the thieves are not hungry homeless vagrants in need of food or basic hygiene, but “professional criminals” who often come to the city from out-of-state where they can’t get away with crime.
“I love New York and it must survive. We must stand our ground to make sure he survives. Enough, he said.
Catsimatidis will hire dozens of retired NYPD officers and security guards to stand at the doors of his stores and sit in cars parked outside to scare off thieves. He did not specify whether they would physically treat anyone who tried to shoplift and said they would do “whatever they have to” to protect customers and staff.
The pharmacy robberies are the latest in a long line of robberies poisoning the Big Apple.
Three people recently entered the Rescue Spa on East 19th Street in Manhattan’s Flatiron neighborhood shortly after 2:30 p.m. Saturday, police said, where they stole over $3,000 worth of groceries, police said.
At first it seemed like the trio were casually wandering around the shops, but it soon became apparent that they were stuffing their pockets with merchandise.
After realizing the intentions of the scammers, the woman was confronted by one of them, who dropped a stack of goods to the floor as he pushed her away.
Moments later, the thieves headed for the exit with pockets full of loot, but the woman chased them to the door, where security footage emerged showing her trying to drag one of the fleeing criminals back into the store.
The masked man kicked and pushed her again before leaving with his accomplices in a 14-second heist.
New York is experiencing a significant surge in crime, with NYPD crime statistics for February showing a nearly 60 percent increase in violent crime compared to the same month last year.
There were 32 murders in February, three more than in the same month last year.
Many other categories saw a shocking jump, including car theft, which rose nearly 105 percent; grand theft, which jumped nearly 80 percent from the previous year; robberies, which rose by 56 percent; A 44 percent increase in burglaries and a 22 percent surge in assaults. Rape also rose by a staggering 35 percent in February.
The wave of crime came in the first few months of Mayor Eric Adams’s tenure. The former NYPD cop, who began work Jan. 1, has vowed to stem the tide of incidents on the city’s streets and subway system, which has seen a string of violent incidents in recent weeks. Former Mayor Bill De Blasio’s policies have contributed to the current crime wave, experts say.
The New York City subway has become ground zero after an alarming 73.3 percent increase in underground accidents, including 182 in February alone.
Hate crimes also doubled year-on-year, with anti-Asian attacks more than tripling and complaints of anti-Semitic attacks up a whopping 54 percent year-over-year, from 134 to 207 incidents.
One recent poll showed that nearly 75 percent of all New York City voters consider crime to be a “very serious” problem.
Christopher Herrmann, former NYPD chief of criminal analysis and professor of law and police science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told that he finds the statistics extremely alarming.
“Honestly, these numbers are all bad,” Herrmann said. “As a rule, the increase and decrease in crime is expressed in single digits. These new numbers are not good.”
Herrmann argued that this increase could be explained by weak bail laws, which often allow offenders to leave prison soon after arrest, a situation that leads to more reoffending.
“Of course, there are enough cases of release from custody of people who should have remained in prison,” he said.
Herrmann added that the new figures for February – typically a low-crime month due to weather and other factors – portend poor results for the rest of the year ahead.
“There is no easy solution – these are long-term problems,” the forensic scientist said. “This is a new level of crime… People should be worried.”