Cell Phone Robbers Target Jamaica Subway Stations, Police Say

JAMAICA, NY – Phone snatchers are being a string of robberies carried out in Jamaica subway stations, police said.

On at least three occasions, two men snuck up behind their victims, snatched the cell phones from their hands and sprinted away in what police believe to be a pattern, an NYPD spokeswoman said. The three thefts happened in Jamaica subway stations along the "F" line.

The first was on Sept. 27 at 9: 15 a.m. when one of the suspects snatched a 27-year-old man's phone from his hands in the Sutphin Boulevard/Hillside Avenue station. When the man tried to chase after the suspect, a second man punched him in the face, police said.

The other two robberies occurred just a stop away at the Parsons Boulevard/Hillside Avenue "F" subway station, police said. On Oct. 30 at 2:45 p.m., one of the men grabbed a 23-year-old woman's cell phone from her hands and fled. Similarly on Nov. 2, just after 2 p.m., a man plucked a cell phone from a 20-year-old woman's hands. Neither women were assaulted, police said.

Police believe the same two suspects were believed to be working together in all three instances.

The NYPD described the first suspect as wearing glasses and a dark colored backpack and he was last seen wearing a blue and white hooded sweater, black and white sweatpants and dark colored sneakers. The second was wearing glasses and a multi-colored backpack and was last seen wearing a dark colored jacket, blue jeans and orange sneakers.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477)

Lead photos via NYPD.