There has been a rash of armed robberies of convenience stores in northern Robeson, southern Cumberland and western Bladen counties.

Law enforcement officials are trying to determine if these armed robberies are related.

On April 18, the Happy Mart #1 convenience store at Hwy 20 and Barker Ten Mile was robbed by two black males. On April 22, a lone gunman robbed Gracy's Corner at W. Broad and McGoogan Street.

On Tuesday, April 25, the Poco Shop in downtown Parkton was robbed by two black men, each of whom held a handgun.

The men entered the Poco at 10:45 pm, pointed weapons and demanded cash. There was one clerk and one customer inside the store. The clerk complied, handing the robbers a small amount of cash from the register. The two men fled on foot to an area behind the store, down the alley, and got into a waiting car. The robbery was captured on the store's cameras.

St. Pauls Area Crimestoppers is offering cash, no-questions-asked rewards for any information relating to any of these robberies, or to any other crime.

If you have any information that could assist law enforcement agencies, please call the SP Area Crimestoppers tips line, 865-TIPS (865-8477) anytime, 24 hours a day, seven days per week.

At no time is a caller's identity asked or needed, because all transactions, including issuance of the rewards, are handled through assigned caller numbers. A reward is issued to that caller number, so a tipster need never identify himself or herself. He or she can even send someone else to collect the reward just by presenting that number.