Police hunt for knife-wielding teens

Police are searching for a group of teenagers believed to be responsible for the armed robberies of four supermarkets on Saturday night.

Three men entered a supermarket in Cheltenham about 3.50pm on Saturday, where police allege they assaulted a 19-year old staff member, leaving him with minor injuries, before fleeing in a white Mercedes with cash and cigarettes.

Soon after, the trio, armed with knives, entered a supermarket in Brighton, where police are told they made demands for cash and cigarettes before allegedly assaulting three workers.

All three employees were treated at the scene for minor injuries, with one sustaining a cut from a knife on his hand.

The group again fled in the white Mercedes, with a fourth person believed to be driving.

Just after 6pm, police were called to a third supermarket, in Mount Waverley, where it’s alleged three men had produced a knife and fled the scene in a white Mercedes with cigarettes.

A supermarket in Camberwell was allegedly held up just before 6.30pm, where the group again produced a knife and fled the scene with cash and cigarettes in the same Mercedes.

Speaking on Sunday, Inspector Scott Dwyer said he believed arrests in the case were imminent, of the back of a successful police operation targeting cigarette crime.

“(The incident) would have been a horrific scene for anyone who witnessed it, for the staff members involved,” he said.

He said police believed the alleged offenders were aged between 14 and 17, and of different nationalities.

“If you were to witness a gang of youths, running through a store with knives … it’s horrendous,” he said.

“What we can be confident in, is that multiple arrests will be made quickly.”

Inspector Dwyer said the Mercedes used in the string of robberies had since been identified as one allegedly stolen from a home in Doncaster East on June 7.

He said offenders had entered a home through an unlocked door and taken the car while the residents were unaware.

The group is yet to be located, and police have urged anyone with information or dashcam or CCTV footage to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.