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MONTREAL — Some Montreal letter carriers are on edge after several armed attacks involving two men who use knives and scissors to steal keys to mail boxes.

Union spokesman Alain Duguay said there have been a dozen such incidents in northeastern Montreal since the beginning of the year.

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One man usually distracts the carrier while the other approaches from behind and demands the keys, said Duguay, the local president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.

The assailants then use the keys to steal credit cards, passports and other important documents.

“With the keys, they can retrieve the mail that’s either in the grey boxes or in a series of letter boxes,” he said in an interview.

Some of the keys also provide access to apartment buildings.

Duguay said two of the attacks took place at community mail boxes, with the most recent incident occurring at the beginning of this week.

“What we’re telling our members is to not resist, to hand over the keys and call the police as quickly as possible,” he added.