Iqaluit robberies prompt RCMP call for public tips

This Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut Quickstop Convenience store in Iqaluit, seen here April 7, was robbed April 6. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

Iqaluit RCMP are seeking public assistance in their investigation of two separate robbery incidents in the city that took place within a week of each other, April 6 and March 31.

The most recent occurred at the Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut Quickstop convenience store. Police responded to a call of an armed robbery from the store at 9:46 p.m., April 6, shortly after two suspects, holding with what appeared to be a rifle, held up an employee working the cash register.

Both individuals wore “all black clothing and had their faces covered,” the RCMP said in a news release April 7.

Both approached the cash and one suspect “threw a pillow case on the counter and demanded money as the rifle was pointed at the employee,” police stated in the release. “The clerk complied and the suspects fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of money in the pillow case.”

Police brought search dogs to the scene for assistance, and carried out “extensive patrols” in an effort to find the two, without success.

No customers were in the store at the time and no one was injured.

An earlier incident, March 31, involved two males who robbed a taxi driver.

The two men, who wore black ski masks and dark jackets, hailed a taxi near the Storehouse Bar that evening and asked to be taken to a building in the 2200s area of the city, RCMP said in a separate April 7 news release.

Once at their destination, the men “became violent and demanded money,” police said. “They left the taxi on foot in the area around Joamie School.”

No injuries were reported in that event either.

Both suspects spoke Inuktitut, and “are believed to be more than 20 years of age,” RCMP said in the news release.

Iqaluit RCMP are calling on members of the public who may have information on the suspects to call the detachment (867-979-0123) or contact Crime Stoppers.