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Gangs of marauding teens have stormed six Big Apple pharmacies over the past month and made off with a stash of prescription drugs — and police sources say the heists may all be linked.
The teens have raided five Duane Reade outlets in Manhattan and one Brooklyn pharmacy since Feb. 28, jumping the counters, snatching codeine and other prescription narcotics before running off, according to law enforcement sources.
The loot has included oxycodone and promethazine, an antihistamine that contains codeine, the sources said.
“They know what they want, they’re in and out quickly,” one Manhattan cop said. “They’re probably just selling them for quick money.”
In the most recent grab-and-run heists, the brazen thieves struck two Duane Reade pharmacies on Wednesday — just 12 minutes and 2 miles apart, law enforcement sources said.
In the most recent robbery, two or three teens dashed into a Duane Reade store at 2069 Broadway shortly before 5:20 p.m. Wednesday, simulated they had a gun, and demanded, “Where the Oxycodone at?” sources said.
The thieves then fled in a car.
At around 5 p.m. the same day four teens pulled off a robbery at another Duane Reade outlet at 1231 Madison Ave.
On Tuesday, a similar robbery took place at Kala Pharmacy at 9311 Church Ave. in Brownsville around 5 p.m.
In the earlier robberies, teens struck at Duane Reade stores at West 4th Street on March 16, another on West 20th Street on March 7, and one on North End Avenue on Feb. 28.
The NYPD is now trying to determine if there are other similar robberies and if the same gang of teens is behind them, police said.
Duane Reade has been among the hardest-hit retailers in the five boroughs during a surge in shoplifting attacks in the five boroughs.
Authorities said the stolen drugs are part of a thriving black market in the city.
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