UES Smoke Shop Rob Connected To Pair Of Queens Stickups: Police

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The man behind an Upper East Side knifepoint stickup at a smoke shop is also connected to robbing two other smoke shops in Queens, police said.

On Sept. 20, a smoke shop on First Avenue near East 78th Street was robbed at knifepoint at about 4:30 p.m., police said.

A man walked in, flashed a knife at a 22-year-old worker, and made off with about $2,000 plus other goods from the shop, police said.

The man then fled south on York on a scooter, officials added.

In Queens, the man struck a smoke shop on Fresh Pond Road and Gates Avenue on Sept. 8 and in Ridgewood on Sept. 22.

An NYPD spokesperson said that like in the Upper East Side robbery, the man flashed a knife before making off with a mix of cash and assorted store goods, stealing about $1,500 in total from the pair of Queens smoke shops.

Police said that the Ridgewood robbery involved an additional suspect.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).