WESTERN BUREAU — Gunmen struck two more business places in St James on Thursday, netting almost $100,000 in cash and leaving one businessman nursing a leg wound.

The two attacks are the latest in a number of robberies in the parish over the past month, that have nudged the police to step up patrols and move almost all their personnel onto the streets over the holiday season.

Reports are that at about 1:45 pm Thursday three armed men, posing as customers, entered the banking hall of the People’s Co-operative Bank in Anchovy and ordered the members of staff and customers to lie face down on the floor.

According to the Constabulary Communications Network (CCN), liaison officer for St James, Peter Salkey, the gunmen then proceeded to rob the vault of $70,000 in cash and later escaped in a waiting motorcar. No one was injured in the incident.

The Anchovy police are investigating.

The second robbery took place about four hours later at the Yong Xing Mini Mart and Wholesale on McCatty Street in Montego Bay. Reports are that two armed men entered the store and robbed the proprietor of $20,000 in cash.

According to Salkey the gunmen, who shot the storeowner in his right leg, escaped in a Toyota motorcar. The businessman was treated at the Cornwall Regional Hospital and later released.

The Montego Bay police are investigating.