Detectives in Essex are swapping notes with their counterparts in Suffolk to see if a spate of armed robberies are linked.
The move comes after a fourth shop in the area was held up by masked raiders in as many weeks.
Police are keen to establish if the latest robbery, in which a store in the Suffolk village of East Bergholt was held up by balaclava-clad gunmen, and robberies at three Essex stores, were carried out by the same gang.
The Essex incidents were an armed raid at Morrisons superstore, Witham, an armed robbery at the Spar convenience store, St Osyth, and another at the Co-op, in Nayland Road, Colchester.
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