The brazen armed robbery occurred in a busy shopping centre at 10am.

The offender entered the pharmacy and walking straight behind the counter before holding a steak knife to the ribs of the 25-year-old pharmacist working there.

The offender then demanded drugs from the safe at the rear the of the business.

Detective Inspector Luke Rankin from Chifley Police District said the pharmacist complied with the demands and was not hurt.

The offender, described as a male of Aboriginal appearance with a moustache, then fled the scene.

The alarm was raised with police soon trawling the area but they were unable to locate the offender.

Police investigations revealed the offender had earlier gone into the Coles supermarket and stolen a knife which police allege was used in the armed robbery at the pharmacy.

Detective Inspector Rankin said crime scene police attended the pharmacy and extra detectives were called in and assigned to the investigation.

“Finding this offender is our absolute priority,” he said.

Detective Inspector Rankin said there were two other people in the store at the time of the robbery.

“They have been spoken to by police. We do have a suspect we’re looking for and are following a number of lines of inquiry,” he said.

Police are also reviewing CCTV footage from the shopping centre, Coles and the pharmacy.