Police last night warned the public to be vigilant after a teenager was dragged from his motorcycle and robbed and an elderly tourist couple were accosted in broad daylight by two blade-wielding men.

The teenager, a 17-year-old Saltus Grammar School student, was mugged on Monday night by a pair wearing bandanas who are also believed to have carried out recent attacks in Hamilton and Paget.

The teenager, from Hamilton Parish, was riding his cycle at about 8 p.m. along Harrington Hundreds Road when he was pulled off his bike by the pair near the junction with Rock Garden Lane.

The men demanded money from him and one assaulted him with a blunt object before escaping with the student's wallet and his orange Yamaha V50 cycle, license number 018AM.

The victim sustained minor abrasions to his hands and legs but declined medical attention. His assailants were both black and were riding a black or blue "Sniper" motorcycle.

Jon Beard, head of the senior graduate year at Saltus, told The Royal Gazette that the boy was physically okay but "very shaken" by the incident.

He said when the teen was pulled from the bike, he tried to get up but was hit on the thigh with a baseball bat, sending him back to the ground.

Mr. Beard said Police told the boy's family that the same two men riding a "Sniper" bike and wearing bandanas had been "on the rampage" for the past two weeks, particularly in the Paget area.

"These guys closely tail the person they are targeting until they get to a suitable spot to pull him off his bike", Mr. Beard added.

He said he had been inundated with e-mails yesterday from people who had heard about the pair mugging people in various locations.

One e-mail said there had been instances in the Par-la-Ville Road area with one man apparently managing to fight the men off. They later caught up with him on his bike in Paget and tried to pull him off.

Another incident was said to have taken place in Par-la-Ville car park when two men mugged an employee of PWC. Other instances are said to have included robberies and assaults by Robin Hood Pub and Restaurant and City Hall car park.

The tourist couple in their sixties were accosted yesterday morning at Fort St. Catherine in St. George's just before 11.40 a.m. but were not injured.

Their attackers were "brandishing bladed articles", according to Police, and stole a wallet containing cash, a camera and a gold chain before escaping on a motorcycle.

The pair were described as brown-skinned males, one lighter than the other, believed to be in their twenties. One was wearing a red/maroon hooded top and the other a white/grey T-shirt.

The incidents follow an assault on Sunday night in Richmond Road, Pembroke, which left a guest worker in hospital with a broken cheekbone.

Police said they had received several reports of robberies recently in various parishes around the Island and warned the public to watch out when walking or riding alone, especially at night."Most of these incidents have occurred during the hours of darkness," said a spokesman. "We are encouraging members of the public to avoid dark or dimly lit areas if at all possible when riding or walking alone at night and to avoid secluded places if possible during the daytime."

Anyone with any information about the Fort St. Catherine robbery should call St. George's Criminal Investigation Unit on 293-2222. Anyone with information about the other incidents should call Police on 295-0011 or the confidential Crime Stoppers hot line on 1-800-623-8477.