Maccas raid the latest in a series of Apex-style attacks in southeast

POLICE say armed raiders are marking out teenage workers as ‘soft targets’ across Melbourne’s southeast, after four men terrorised McDonald’s staff.

Cops say that weapons are being used to target young workers across Melbourne’s southeast.

• Apex youth planned crimes from jail
• Moomba riot: Who are the Apex gang?
• Apex attacks prompts ethnic gangs probe

YOUNG workers are among the traumatised victims of vicious armed robbers striking fast food outlets, service stations and convenience stores throughout Melbourne’s southeast.

Police said thieves robbed these “soft targets” using an array of weapons including machetes, knives, guns and hammers.

And Moorabbin Police investigation and response Inspector Bernie Edwards urged young staff to stay safe by not fighting back if confronted by armed robbers.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Should the authorities be doing more to protect young workers? Tell us below.

“We are lucky that the majority of victims don’t resist — that’s what we’d prefer rather than somebody getting seriously hurt,” Insp Edwards said.

He spoke out after the latest attack on a Chelsea Heights McDonald’s, where four men armed with sharp edged hammers and a machete threatened staff and stole cash.

Police are worried that young workers at servos, convenience stores and fast-food outlets are particularly vulnerable to armed gangs.

The taskforce established to catch members of the Apex Gang — notorious for its violent car thefts, home invasions and robberies across Melbourne’s south east — is investigating the robbery.

Inspector Edwards said young people were among the victims of these frightening crimes.

“What we’ve found is either edged weapons, hammers or even instruments they might use to break through a glass window or into a locked cabinet … they just adapt those particular weapons to threaten people,” Insp Edwards said.

“Some of your fast food outlets are staffed by relatively young people whereas service stations are a little bit older.

“It’s really traumatising (for the victims).”

On January 6 four men, two armed with a machete and shared edged hammer, threatened staff at Chelsea Heights McDonald’s and stole cash from registers and a safe.

The men entered the store at 3.25am and demanded staff move to the back. The female manager was then ordered to open the safe which they plundered — the thieves also stole the manager’s handbag.

Three of the men were described as African, the other Asian and all men wore some form of cloth to cover their faces.

Last year Cheltenham McDonald’s was targeted twice in a fortnight; three men armed with machetes and knives robbed the fast food outlet on November 14, just 12 days after two youths allegedly threatened to set fire to the building before stealing cash.

And a man has been charged following two alleged armed robberies at a service station in Chelsea Heights and a fast food restaurant in Carrum Downs in October.

Insp Edwards said fast food outlets and service stations were vulnerable to crime and often targeted during the night because they were open, people came in and out and they had limited security.

“They haven’t got armed guards like a bank,” Insp Edwards said.

Insp Edwards said police were running operations to reduce armed robberies and Moorabbin night shift officers regularly patrolled potentially vulnerable sites.