Toronto pharmacists sound alarm as armed robberies more than double

Armed robberies targeting Toronto-area pharmacies have more than doubled, as gun-toting gangs looking for drugs to sell are repeatedly raiding part of our health-care system, according to a CTV News Investigation.

Pharmacists across Ontario say they are seeing robberies happen almost every day -- sometimes multiple times a day. One Toronto pharmacy was robbed more than 14 times, its proprietor said.

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And the money that can be made selling stolen pills is driving other crimes like carjacking, which is one way the criminals obtain getaway cars, while putting more potentially hazardous opioids on the street.

The fear the thieves will not let up is pushing some in the business to contemplate abandoning careers of helping patients.

“I don’t know what to do at this point. It’s scary coming to work,” said Michael Malak, who has been a pharmacist in Etobicoke for 10 years, following in the footsteps of his parents.

But Malak is considering walking away after his store was robbed last week by a group of masked men who rushed in and demanded narcotics by name.

“He put me in a headlock. He said, ‘Where’s your safe, where’s your f***ing safe?’ I told him we don’t have a safe. That’s when he started punching,” Malak said.

The incident -- caught on surveillance video -- shows the man in a black hoodie grapple with Malak while others start to put bottles of pills in a bag.

It’s a video Malak says is difficult for him to watch.

“I’m thinking, ‘This is not happening right now.’ A million things are going through my head: 'I have a family. I have kids,'” he said.

The rush robbery at Malak’s store is just one in what observers say is a disturbing surge.

“We’re hearing about this almost every day, sometimes multiple times a day, from pharmacists all across Ontario,” said Sherif Guorgui of OnPharm-United, a network of pharmacists.

And people have been hurt: in one case in Toronto in August, a man was shot and critically injured. That was the third armed robbery of a pharmacy in Toronto that night.

Toronto police arrive on the scene of a robbery and shooting at a pharmacy in Scarborough on Aug. 19, 2022.

Toronto Police say they investigated 49 pharmacy robberies in 2021 in their jurisdiction. In 2022, they have taken carriage of 101 pharmacy robberies so far -- more than double, with the year not yet out.

“We have definitely seen an increase this year,” Insp. Rich Harris told CTV News Toronto in an interview, saying that thieves tend to target pills such as Percocets rather than cash because of their considerable resale value. “When we’re making arrests we’re getting vast amounts of product back. Which means they are selling it.”

It’s not clear what precisely is driving the surge, he said, but one factor could be an increase in price for the stolen pills.

This Aug. 15, 2017, file photo shows an arrangement of pills of the opioid oxycodone-acetaminophen, also known as Percocet, in New York.(AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)

“What drives the prices up is the demand. There’s a clear demand for it and we’re seeing an increase in those robberies,” he said.

In about one in 10 carjackings in Toronto -- already at more than 130 this year -- the car was discovered to be connected to a robbery of a pharmacy, he said.

• Toronto carjackings: How to protect yourself 

Police in the GTA have made a dent, arresting four teenagers for three carjackings and nine pharmacy robberies this week. Overall, 38 per cent of the robberies in 2022 have been cleared by way of arrest, Harris said.

Police and pharmacists have issued warnings as far west as Calgary, saying the pills can play a role in overdose deaths.

“Retail crime and that includes pharmacy robberies specifically continues to be a problem nationwide,” said Angeline Ng, of the Ontario Pharmacists Association.

“In Ontario, we have the largest pharmacy losses of opioids and that includes things like codeine, fentanyl and hydromorphone and oxycodone,” she said. “These drugs are then introduced onto the street and sold for illicit use and helps fuel the opioid crisis that we have here in Canada.”

Toronto Police say they are working on tracking more thieves and recommending security measures for pharmacists like security cameras. Some told CTV News Toronto they have spent more than $50,000 on renovations to create a buzzer system and even bulletproof glass.

But some worry that turning pharmacies into fortresses will drive patients away — making it harder to care for them, which is why many got into the business in the first place.

“This is now happening on a daily basis. It can’t keep going like this. It needs to stop,” Malak said.