Robbers hit a South Salt Lake Rite Aid on Tuesday morning for the fifth time in as many months .

Police arrested two brothers, 27 and 30, on suspicion of threatening a clerk with a fake bomb and robbing the store at 635 E. 3300 South.

The men are suspected of demanding Xanax and displaying a vodka bottle with a battery and a watch taped to it, South Salt Lake police spokesman Gary Keller wrote in a press release.

The robbers did not take any money, but they left with an undisclosed amount of Xanax, Keller said.

One man ran south across the parking lot and turned west on 3300 South. The other ran to a black 2004 Jeep Cherokee in the parking lot and drove off westbound.

Officers matched the Cherokee's license plate to a previous traffic violation and tracked it to an address in Salt Lake City, where they arrested the two brothers.

Investigators are still looking for the fake bomb, which the suspects claim to have discarded somewhere between 500 East and 800 East, and between 3300 South and South Temple, Keller wrote. If found, do not disturb it and call 911, police advise.

Keller has said the suspects in today's robbery likely were not involved in other recent robberies at the store. In the previous cases, a robber brandished a handgun and demanded Oxycontin, Keller said. Robbers in those incidents also ran to a getaway car in a residential neighborhood after jumping a fence behind the store, unlike today's


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suspects, Keller said.

"We don't believe it's the same people. We're looking at surveillance tapes but their faces are pretty well covered," Keller said. "But for us, this is becoming more than frustrating."

Police have been working with the Rite Aid corporate office to set up precautionary measures and harden security. Keller said the store's layout makes it vulnerable to robberies as the pharmacy is right next to the front door.

"It seems every time they get more and more bold. But the local manager promised us they'd have an armed guard within the next week," Keller said. "Hopefully that takes place and this will cease."

The Rite Aid was robbed last Thursday by two men wearing black ball caps, black bandanas and black hooded sweatshirts. They struck a pharmacist on the head with a handgun and took Oxycontin.

The store also was robbed in May, July and August, twice for OxyContin and once for cigarettes. A man, his wife, their son and three others were indicted on federal charges for two of the previous robberies.