By CASEY NEILL
ATTACKERS brandishing metal poles robbed two people in central Dandenong on Sunday and police fear they could strike again.
Greater Dandenong CIU Detective Senior Constable Lee-Anne Clinton said they were investigating whether the strikingly similar incidents, at 1am and 2.05pm on 8 September, were linked and pleaded for witnesses to come forward.
“We’re keen to catch up with these offenders before they have the chance to strike again,” she said.
In the first incident, five to six men of Islander appearance approached three men, all aged 20, walking along Foster Street and demanded money.
Det Sen Const Clinton said that when the victims refused, the men attacked them with metal poles and took a wallet and mobile phone from one victim.
An ambulance took one of the men to hospital for treatment for non-life threatening injuries.
About 2.05pm the same day, three men were walking through Palm Plaza, McCrae Street, when a group of about six men of Islander appearance approached them and demanded their phones and wallets.
Det Sen Const Clinton said they refused and ran, but the attackers caught up and struck a 27-year-old man with metal poles and took his phone.
“We’re hoping that at that time of day someone may have seen the incident and can contact us with information,” she said.
Det Sen Const Clinton said these were brazen attacks or “ordinary people doing their own thing on a Sunday” and urged anyone who witnessed the incidents or might know the offenders to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
