Viagra raider strikes in Marseilles

The shop now keeps its Viagra stock to a minimum

A chemist's shop in the French city of Marseilles has been robbed four times in one year by an armed man who takes only one item apart from the cash: Viagra pills.

The robber, his face masked by a scarf, always strikes at closing-time after the last customer leaves, threatening staff with a knife.

It was clear he was mostly in it for the medicine

Shop owner

This week was no exception, as he appeared on the pavement just as the chemist and his two female assistants were leaving the premises.

Ordering them back in, he rifled the cash-till and seized three boxes of the anti-impotence pills.

"Since the attacks started we only keep a minimal supply," the shop's owner told La Provence newspaper.

"He did make off with the day's takings but it was clear he was mostly in it for the medicine," he added.

Re-sale theory

The robber - or robbers, as the staff are not sure if it is the same man - first struck in November 2001, then in July and September of this year.

Each incident has been reported to the police but the shop is in an isolated area, on a main road in the Mediterranean city's southern suburbs.

Police believe that a gang may be operating, selling on the stolen Viagra.

"Who is to say that nobody is going to get killed the fifth time or the sixth time that this happens?" the chemist says. "It's become impossible."