armed robberies that occurred within a week.

And they have reacted to the two violent attacks on employees of after-hours establishments by stepping up night patrols, chief of the Criminal Investigations Department Det. Supt. Wayne Perinchief disclosed yesterday.

Police were troubled by the number of reports they had received from store keepers complaining about suspicious men hanging about at night, he said.

"We will have special nighttime patrols in addition to regular patrols,'' he said. "Late night places, grocery stores will be the target areas.'' Det. Supt. Perinchief further believed the attacks were committed in desperation for drugs.

And he warned that with winter approaching, "We are just gearing up for (more).'' The first armed robbery occurred last weekend at Warwick Workman's Club. A female patron had a knife thrust at her throat by a youth while she was robbed of $250. And the barman was punched and beaten with a metal rod by two other men, who got away with $1,000 from the till. All three had worn dark crash helmets.

The second incident took place in the early hours of Saturday at the Ice Queen fastfood restaurant in Paget.

Two masked robbers threatened staff with a baseball bat and escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash and an employee's handbag. They were both wearing black crash helmets and escaped on a yellow motorbike, Police said.

Det. Supt. Perinchief noted that in the week before the first armed robbery, two American visitors walking back to their Southampton guesthouse were robbed at knifepoint. But he believed it was unrelated to the other two robberies.

"There may be a link between the two later attacks,'' he said. "We don't think we have two, three and four (a total of 10) madmen out there, but a combination of four different people or two or three acting in concert. I think it's the same lot.'' Det. Supt. Perinchief said the reason he believed the same gang was involved was because the acts were "not that random''. "There are not many who are that desperate,'' he said, adding, "They were probably made desperate by drugs.'' It was significant that in both incidents, and the tourist attack, motor bikes were used as the get-away vehicle, Det. Supt. Perinchief said. And there appeared to be some planning in the Ice Queen and Workman's robberies.

He added he did not believe tourists were the target of such attacks, saying, "The (culprits) are looking for more money than tourists are going to have in their back pockets.'' An incident room had been set up to deal with both robberies, Det. Supt.

Perinchief said. Though two people had been arrested in the Workman's case, no one had been charged with any of the crimes yet.

He urged any after-hours shopkeeper who had seen suspicious men around to contact Det. Insp. Jonathan Smith at 299-4315 or 295-0011.

Operators of late-night businesses should ensure at least two male employees were around after peak hours -- about 9 p.m., and not to keep large amounts of money on the premises.

He added, "I would anticipate this type of conduct to continue -- the cruise ships will be going soon...''