Police arrest four over Sydney shopping complex robbery

Four people have been arrested in a police operation overnight targeting armed robberies in Armidale.

Police from New England Local Area Command initiated the operation after four businesses in a shopping complex in Queen Elizabeth Drive were robbed during the past four weeks.

Police will allege four people, armed with a range of weapons, threatened staff in a food outlet within the complex about 11.40pm Thursday.

Officers – who’d been stationed within the complex – immediately arrested the four without incident.

Three men - one aged 22 and two aged 19 - and a 17-year-old youth, were taken to Armidale Police Station where they are assisting detectives with their inquiries.

A knife, a brick and two lengths of timber were seized at the scene and have been taken for forensic examination.