A SHOPKEEPER ‘feared for his life’ after being robbed at knifepoint for the second time in four days.

A masked man slammed Nazier Ahmed into his counter at Sandon Street Grocers and Newsagents in Darwen.

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CCTV shows the 62-year-old being dragged from the back of the shop by his neck before being forced to open the till, before the robber runs off with £200.

The latest robbery comes after Mr Ahmed was targeted on Saturday and told to hand over hundreds of pounds by a man also armed with a knife.

Yesterday, Mr Ahmed said: “I couldn’t do anything, I was fearing for my life.

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“If I tried to fight back he could have used his knife and I might not have been able to tell this story.

“This masked man came in at a similar time to the other man.

“It’s incredibly dangerous for shopkeepers, what can I do?

“I have CCTV on the outside and inside of my shop but that’s not going to protect me from knives.

“The money was a lot for my shop and it’s going to have an effect on my takings.

“I can’t even close because I have mouths to feed and I cannot afford to lose business.”

Mr Ahmed has owned the shop for 12 years and it has been in his family for 40 years.

A police spokesman said the two incidents were being linked.

The attacker is described as a white male, aged between 30-35 years old and approximately 6ft in height.

He was wearing an Adidas hooded jacket that is light grey on the bottom half and dark grey on the top half separated by a black horizontal line.

He was also wearing grey coloured tracksuit bottoms and dark trainers.

Asif Ali, a work colleague and friend of Mr Ahmed, said: “I cannot believe it happened again so quickly.

“It’s worrying because a lot shops cannot afford to employ two people at once so quite often there’s only one person on their own.

“I felt really bad for my friend, it must have been terrible.”

The shop reopened at around lunchtime, two hours after the robbery, when police left the scene.

Cllr Roy Davies, who represents the area on Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: “I am shocked and alarmed.

“It is hard to believe that this shop has been targeted at knifepoint twice on four days.

“I am very concerned at this.

“It follows a similar robbery in Walmsley Street not long ago and other violent incidents in Olive Lane and on the St James’s estate in my ward.

“I am getting worried about going out at night and for my family going out.

“It is getting dangerous and violent out there.”

A Sandon Street resident said: “We saw the police cars outside and wondered what had happened.

“It’s scary to think this is happening on my road, this sort of behaviour should not be allowed to happen.”

A police spokesman said: “The man threatened violence towards the member of staff but did not lash out.

“The money was taken and the staff member was left inside while he got away.”