Burnaby Mounties are warning the public to keep their cell phones out of sight when walking alone after a rash of robberies and attempted robberies of the devices on the weekend.
In all, there were five alleged incidents in a three-hour span where a group of young men allegedly tried to steal smartphones from separate victims Sunday evening, according to RCMP.
The first robbery happened around 9 p.m. that night in the 9800 block of Austin Avenue near the Lougheed SkyTrain station.
Police said a man and his friend made an arrangement to meet up with someone to sell his smartphone.
After a discussion, the prospective buyer pulled out a can of pepper spray, spraying the victim and running away with his phone.
Two suspects were arrested shortly after by police.
An hour later, a group of suspects tried to grab the phone of a woman walking in the area of the Patterson SkyTrain station but was unsuccessful.
Fewer than 20 minutes later, three to four youth robbed a man of his iPhone. In this case, police arrested three people, but the arrests didn’t stop the robbery spree.
Just a half-hour after the third incident, another person was the victim of an attempted cell phone robbery in the area. The suspects didn’t get the phone in that case and ran off. And just before midnight, a man in the 6700 block of Sussex Avenue was the fifth victim of the evening.
Police said four men jumped the victim, knocking him to the ground and allegedly stealing a number of items including a wallet. The man suffered minor injuries to his shoulder.
Burnaby RCMP Staff-Sgt. Major John Buis said there were no arrests made in the final two incidents, but investigators believe all the cases may be linked to a group of young men.
There also may be other victims, as the police recovered a cell phone but haven’t identified the owner.
