Police on hunt after robberies

ERIN PEARSON
Police are investigating a spate of violent armed robberies targeting convenience stores across Geelong.
The hunt widened on Wednesday morning when two men armed with a gun robbed a Bell Park post office.
Police said they were now investigating seven robberies at 7-Eleven stores, two on post offices and a raid on a Belmont milk bar since January 4. Some of the alleged robbers were facing court.
Police said that in the latest robbery the two men entered the post office on the corner of Thompson Road and Separation Street around 11.40am.
The pair left with cash via Separation Street.
A day earlier a masked offender robbed two 7-Eleven stores within minutes.
Police believed the offender entered the chain’s Ryrie Street store armed with a screw driver around 4.30am.
The bandit threatened an attendant and demanded cash before fleeing in a vehicle parked on Swanston Street.
Police described his haul as small amount of cash.
Soon after a masked bandit entered another 7-Eleven on the corner of Separation Street and Thompson Road, North Geelong, around 4.40am.
Police said the man used a knife to threaten an attendant and demand cash.
The man was described as wearing grey track suit pants with a black and white striped hooded jacket during both robberies.
Investigators believed the robberies were linked.
Geelong and Newcomb 7-Elevens had also been robbed, police said.
A Manifold Heights post office was also robbed earlier this month.
New statistics from Victoria Police show Geelong recorded the state’s biggest rise in robberies in the past 12 months, up 40.3 per cent.
Geelong also recorded the third biggest increase in residential burglaries, up 7.7 per cent with an additional 90 offences.
The statistics showed a general statewide fall in crime, down 6.9 per cent overall.