Police investigating a series of pizza-delivery driver robberies in South Surrey have a slice of advice for business owners: if an order raises red flags, verify it before delivery.
Since April 7, and as recently as Sunday night, two pizza-delivery drivers sent to the Rosemary Heights area have been threatened with bear spray and robbed of their cargo after setting out to deliver large orders placed from private or blocked phone numbers.
A third driver was targeted but able to flee the scene before the culprits closed in.
Cpl. Barb Creighton said that in each case, the order was worth more than $100, residents at the stated addresses had not ordered pizza and the orders were not verified.
“The red flags are going up… but they’re still making the delivery,” she said.
All three victims were delivering near 155 Street and 36 Avenue. Sunday’s incidents – in which a 22-year-old man was targeted at 9:30 p.m. and a 48-year-old woman was robbed 90 minutes later – involved three suspects. In the April 7 robbery, at around 10:15 p.m., there were two suspects.
While a police dog team failed to locate suspects Sunday, hours later patrolling officers identified three teens with “very similar descriptors” to those provided by the victims.
Creighton said no arrests were made, but the trio are “definitely people of interest.”
The suspects are described as Caucasian teenaged boys, aged 14 to 16 years old. One was wearing a red hoodie, and had a shaved head and brown eyes; another had chin-length hair and was wearing a white baseball cap.
Anyone with information on the suspects is asked to call police at 604-599-0502 or, to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.