THE right people are investigating the series of armed robberies across the district, Braintree’s district commander has said.

Since mid-December robberies have taken place at stores in Braintree, Bocking, Silver End, Halstead and Great Yeldham and the Serious Organised Crime Unit is now investigating.

In each, three or four people tooled with weapons have demanded cash.

Craig Carrington, district commander for Braintree, said: “The incidents are being investigated by our serious crime unit so we have the right people with the right skills looking into them.

"Even though there has been an increase I would assure the public that these crimes are still very rare.

“Of course I completely understand why the community is concerned but I am keen to impress that while these are horrible crimes, it is not people that are being targeted it is shops and whilst there have been threats of violence there has been no-one hurt.

"I would urge people to help us as best they can with witness statements, CCTV and preserving crime scenes so we can catch the culprits.”

Lead investigator DCI Josie Hayes said: “In order to catch those involved in the series of offences, we have specialist investigators working on the case from Essex Police’s Serious Crime Directorate and we are working hard to make sure that every investigative opportunity is being capitalised on.

"Our aim is to identify these groups and disrupt their activity before they can do further harm.

"Local policing teams working with partners to raise awareness is also crucial to tackling organised crime at a local level.”

Anyone with information should call Braintree CID on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.