By CASEY NEILL
A GANG brandishing metal poles driving a white van has struck twice in 20 minutes in Greater Dandenong.
Greater Dandenong CIU Detective Sergeant Glen Cruse said a 20-year-old Noble Park man was walking south along Dunblane Road, Springvale, about 5.10am on Wednesday 15 April when a white van approached.
A man of Islander appearance, aged about 20 with a large build and a baseball cap, got out and punched the victim in the face.
Sgt Cruse said three other men, of African appearance and aged in their early 20s, also got out of the van and began striking the victim’s head and legs with metal poles.
They took his bag and mobile phone during the attack and fled the scene in the van.
Sgt Cruse said the victim suffered minor facial and soft tissue injuries.
About 20 minutes later the same van approached a 55-year-old Dandenong woman waiting at bus stop on Stud Road, Dandenong.
A man of African appearance aged in his 20s got out of the van, went up to the woman, pulled her handbag from her shoulder and ran back to the van.
Sgt Cruse said witnesses provided a partial registration for the van, which police determined had been stolen from outside an address in Heatherton a few days earlier.
Officers recovered the vehicle on James Street, Dandenong, on 15 April.
Sgt Cruse said there was nothing to link the attacks to two robberies at Hemmings Park, Dandenong, last month, which involved up to 10 young men of African appearance.
He urged anyone with information to call Greater Dandenong CIU on 9767 7487 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
