A man wielding a 5-6 inch kitchen knife has entered the Laurelglen Pharmacy on the Stewartstown Road twice in two weeks in an attempt to steal drugs.

Brendan Anglin, owner of the pharmacy has warned that the robber needs to be caught before he makes another robbery attempt.

"Unfortunately they are becoming more and more regular. It's a terrible incident, it's very distressing for all of the staff and I can only pay tribute to my staff and say that not one member of staff has missed a day's work after this incident.

"It's very distressing, not only during the incident but it's the aftermath of the incident because it's very difficult for people to settle in work a day or a week after the incident. It does have after effects."

My feeling is that more than likely, he will try and rob another pharmacy and I think the only way to stop him is if the police catch him.

Pharmacy owner Brendan Anglin

He hopes that the security footage he has given to UTV will lead to information on the robber being given to the police.

Staff member Carolyn Dunn was threatened at knifepoint by the man on both occasions, the first of which was on Monday 13 August.

The man was seeking pain drugs, similar to morphine from the pharmacy.

"It was reasonably quiet and I'd just returned from my lunch and I was standing chatting to another member of staff and a fella came out of the corner of our eye, he bolted over the counter and came into the dispensary and produced knife and asked for drugs out of the safe," she told UTV.

"I told him to calm down and he repeated again, holding the knife up to me, to give him the drugs - so I did give him a small amount of the tablets that he'd asked for and he left the pharmacy."

She said they increased security after first robbery but never expected to see him again the following Friday.

Obviously it was a very scary experience and not one I thought I was going to have to go through twice in a fortnight.

Carolyn Dunn

"This time in a very busy shop, just coming up to the bank holiday weekend he just walked in, very calm, walked in the back of the counter, produced the knife to the staff at the back of the counter and followed them into the dispensary to myself," she explained.

She said that he threatened her again, and despite saying she couldn't get into the safe because of a time delay lock that had been installed, the man continued to argue with her- all the while wielding the knife.

The man attempted to open the safe himself and then walked out after his attempts failed, it is understood he made off towards the Twinbrook estate.

"I was just concerned for my own safety and for the safety of the other staff and for the customers," she said.

"I wanted him to see that for himself and get him out without hurting any of the staff or any of the customers."