More youth gangs in different Australian cities are using the Taser or electronic stun gun to commit petty crimes.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on teenagers in the city who used a stun gun for a robbery spree. The victims were pedestrians, taxi drivers and a shop owner and a customer.

Sydney Police said the first attack was about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday when two male teens approached a male store owner who was assisting a female shopper at a Chippendale convenience store. They Tasered the shop owner and the buyer, but failed to get money from the two.

The same group of young hoodlums approached a 44-year-old taxi driver 20 minutes after the first incident. The cab driver was stopped at the intersection of Belmore and Darling streets in Rozelle. The two teenagers applied electric shock on the driver's neck, but they failed to get money and instead drove off in a BMW.

An older cabbie was the victim of another youth at about 1 a.m. Thursday. The young man was armed with a Taser when he stopped the 54-year-old taxi driver, ordered him to get out of the vehicle and then drove off with the cab, the driver's mobile phone and some personal property.

Thirty minutes later, three youths held up a 19-year-old woman using a stun gun. They took her two bags, cash and credit card after chasing her across Liverpool Road in Ashfield. Her youthful assailants drove away in a BMW and another car.

Outside Sydney, similar stun gun-toting incidents were reported in Parmatta on Tuesday. Among the victims were a 31-year-old woman who was stunned on her left arm and then forced to turn over her handbag to two men who later drove away in two separate cars toward Church Street, the Paramatta Adviser reported.

The victim described the holdup men as having Mediterranean or Middle Eastern appearance and between the ages 15 and 18. One was short with spiky hair and clean shaven, the other was thin and had black hair.