Port Moody police were called to the Shoppers Drug Mart on Ioco Road just before 5 p.m. Tuesday, after a man wearing a hoodie walked into the store, flashed a gun and demanded drugs and money from an employee.
Photograph by: NOW , file
Port Moody police are on the lookout for a suspect involved in a daytime robbery of a drug store earlier this week.
Police were called to the Pharmasave on Ioco Road just before 5 p.m. Tuesday to a report of a robbery.
Police said a man wearing a hoodie walked into the store, flashed a gun and demanded drugs and money from an employee.
Specifically, the suspect was looking for Oxycontin, a powerful prescription drug.
However, the pharmacy doesn’t carry the drug, so the man grabbed various other pharmaceuticals and fled on foot.
Officers quickly set up a perimeter around the area using both tracking dogs and a helicopter, but the suspect managed to get away.
No one was injured in the incident.
Port Moody police spokesman Luke Van Winkel suggested there is no indication the robbery is linked to any other incidents around the Tri-Cities, specifically the recent armed robbery of a Subway restaurant in Coquitlam.
“This one appears to be much more targeted toward drugs,” he told The NOW.
There was, however, a similar robbery on Sept. 27 in Maple Ridge, in which a man with a hoodie and disguise robbed a pharmacy, also just before 5 p.m.
Van Winkel said it’s not unusual for a pharmacy to be the target of thieves.
“Unfortunately there are people with serious addiction problems who know that there are places where these drugs are stored,” he said.
Police are currently reviewing surveillance video and have spoken to some witnesses at the scene, but they’re asking anyone with information to contact the department.
The suspect is described as a Caucasian man in his mid-20s or early 30s, standing five feet 10 or 11 inches tall and wearing a hoodie.
