Manhunt after robber pulls large knife on Upper Hutt pharmacy staff, fleeing with drugs cache

Police are searching for a man who pulled a knife and demanded prescription drugs from the staff at an Upper Hutt pharmacy.

The aggravated robbery occurred at Queen Street Pharmacy on Andrews Lane at 7.10pm on Sunday.

The man - described as having olive skin and being around 1.78m tall - entered the store and confronted the two employees with a large knife.

Detective Senior Sergeant Tim Leitch said the man threatened the employees and demanded prescription medications.

"After receiving a quantity of drugs he ran from the shop, back out on to Andrews Lane. He was last seen heading towards King St."

Leitch said fortunately nobody was injured in the robbery but the pharmacy employees were understandably left very frightened and shaken by the incident.

"The offender was wearing a red jacket, dark pants, sneakers and black ski gloves.

"He was also wearing a dark beanie, sunglasses and a white scarf across his face, and carrying a large kitchen-style knife with a blade approximately 25cm long."

Leitch said police were extremely concerned about the behaviour of this offender and wanted to hear from anyone who could help identify and locate him.

If you think you may have seen this man in the Upper Hutt area around the time of the robbery, or you saw anything suspicious in the Queen Street/King St area, please call Lower Hutt Police on 04 560 2600 as soon as possible.