COPS CORRAL DRUG THIEVES

Police recently arrested four men involved in what was termed a “ring” of thieves who targeted trucks making deliveries of certain drugs to pharmacies in the Canarsie and East Flatbush areas.

According to police sources, a confidential informant told local Anti-Crime Unit plainclothes officers that a delivery van would be robbed when it arrived with a cargo of pharmaceutical products, including drugs such as oxycontin and Vicodin, at a Rite-Aid Pharmacy on Utica Avenue.

Police decided to stake out the drug store and were on hand when, just as the van arrived at the site, three men got out of a car parked nearby and started to assault the driver. The cops immediately closed in and arrested the trio, plus the driver of a getaway car, who was caught two blocks away as he tried to escape.

Captain Ralph Monteforte, commanding officer of the 69th Precinct, said that, although the arrests took place in East Flatbush, some of the robberies included vans making de-liveries to drug stores within the Can-arsie area.

Sources said one of the suspects admitted to having worked for a chain pharmacy and said he knew how and when the drugs were ordered and to what locations they were intended. Officials said the investigation is continuing and there is a possibility that more suspects will be arrested.

Charles Rogers