Police are seeking an Oamaru man after a brazen robbery at an Oamaru dairy on Sunday, the fourth time the dairy has been targeted since May 2012.
It is alleged the man, who is known to police, entered the Meadowbank Dairy in State Highway 1 about 6.40pm and asked for two pouches of loose tobacco, filters and papers worth about $170.
When a staff member placed the products on the counter, the man took them and walked out of the store without paying for them.
When followed and confronted by the staff member the man threatened to attack them if they continued to follow him.
The man, last seen walking along Don St, was identified by police through CCTV camera footage.
No weapon was involved and no-one else was being sought by police in relation to the robbery.
The owner of the dairy declined to comment when approached by the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
It was the fourth time the dairy has been targeted in seven years.
In May 2012, a Kakanui teenager entered the dairy armed with a knife and demanded synthetic cannabis, which was available legally at the time, before fleeing the scene in a vehicle driven by his brother.
In December of the same year a 19-year-old Oamaru man was arrested and charged with aggravated robbery when he also threatened staff with a knife in a bid to steal synthetic cannabis.
The most recent robbery before Sunday's incident was in January 2015, when a man, also armed with a knife, demanded tobacco before fleeing the scene.
Another North Otago dairy, the Kakanui Store, was targeted on September 25 when Flynn Winston Aitcheson-Greene (20), armed with a spring-loaded BB gun, went behind the counter and stole tobacco after a staff member barricaded themselves in a room.
He was last month sentenced to 22 months' imprisonment.
