article_snippet.sent: Three men would enter the premises and hold up staff as the fourth remained in the car.
article_snippet.sent: In another robbery, three of the group walked into a pub and threatened customers with a meat cleaver.
article_snippet.sent: Prosecutor Adam Smith said: 'A customer was threatened and told to "get in the back" towards the rear cash office where there was a safe. '
article_snippet.sent: One was threatened with a meat cleaver and two took the member of staff to the office where they were forced to open the safe before they took £2,000.'
article_snippet.sent: friends and family targeted businesses in groups of four, armed with a variety of weapons including bricks, baseball bats, a meat cleaver, axes, and, on one occasion, an imitation firearm.
article_snippet.sent: If it was a vulnerable convenience store, three would go in, get cigarettes, the till, wave something at staff and run for it was a vulnerable convenience store.