By ANEEKA SIMONIS
POLICE have arrested and charged the man accused of robbing a Pakenham servo worker at knifepoint in a recent early morning hold-up.
The 26-year-old Narre Warren man has also been charged with eight other armed robberies in the south-east region, and two attempted armed robberies.
The man was netted by police on Saturday 2 July at a property in Dandenong, and later charged with a string of robbery charges at several service stations, grocery stores, a tobacconist and clothing store to name a few.
The man is even alleged to have robbed, or attempted to rob, a church supply store in the city’s inner east on Thursday 30 June.
Police have remanded the alleged serial offender in custody to appear at the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Monday 11 July.
In court it will be alleged the man used a knife to threaten a Coles Express, Pakenham worker to hand over cash in the service station register and withdraw his own personal funds from an ATM at 4.30am on Monday 27 June.
Police believe the alleged knife-wielding offender was let inside the locked service station by the victim before the overnight attack.
It was alleged he burgled the terrified worker the same night he burgled a grocery store and confectionery store on Springvale Road in Springvale.
The man was charged by Southern Metropolitan Regional Crime Team investigators as part of Operation Cosmas, tasked with solving the increasing number of armed robberies and carjackings in the south-east region.
More than 70 arrests have been made by the taskforce since it formed in May.
Pakenham, Narre Warren, Noble Park, Clayton, Springvale and Hawthorn were listed as suburbs targeted by the accused in his alleged burgling spree spanning from Tuesday 7 June to Thursday 30 June.
