A few weeks ago, The Spirit reported on two men who were robbing delivery drivers in South Kensington. Recently, the 26th police district reported two arrests in connection to the recent string of armed robberies involving take-out delivery drivers in South Kensington.

Mahmoud Aguibi and Mohamed Khelil-Cherfi, both 26 and both from South Philadelphia, are facing multiple charges including conspiracy, robbery, aggravated assault and various firearms charges. The two men are accused of committing four robberies in September. The pair reportedly would place a food order using a disposable “burn phone,” then rob the delivery driver at gunpoint when he arrived to deliver the food. They targeted Asian take-out food delivery drivers, and in one instance, the assailants pistol whipped one of the drivers.

Suspects

An anonymous tip came in after the police released surveillance video showing the two suspects smiling as they made purchases in Northeast Philadelphia. The first suspect was ID’d, and a search warrant was executed on his home. Police recovered a registered firearm as well as wallets and cellphones belonging to the victims.

Upon arrest, the suspect confessed. A search warrant was executed on that suspect’s’ residence where another registered firearm was recovered, as well as more property belonging to the victims. Both men had no prior felonies. According to Sgt. John Massi of the 26th district, the suspects were committing crimes to support their drug habits.

If a criminal robs a business and that business receives any amount of their products from out of state, the crime can be prosecuted under The Hobbs Act- a federal statute that allows for stiffer penalties. Since most businesses can come up with one thing that comes from out of state, it serves as an easy way to upgrade the charges. This doesn’t exactly apply to delivery drivers working outside of a restaurant. “At our own level we’re curious if this (delivery driver robberies) would constitute,” Sgt. Massi said. According to Sgt. Massi, there is no precedent for prosecuting cases like this under The Hobbs Act, but Sgt. Massi wants to change that. “We’re just curious if this would be a candidate,” Sgt. Massi said. “Even though these guys arent prior felons, they’re kind of terrorizing the area”.

Even though the firearms used in these crimes were licensed, the suspects are charged as if they were carrying illegal weapons. If you commit a crime with a registered firearm, you will receive firearms charges as if the weapon was illegal.

Delivery driver robberies do happen in Philadelphia, but according to Sgt. Massi, serial robberies like this are rare. “We haven’t had a job like that in this area for a while,” Sgt. Massi said.

According to Sgt. Massi, there were some other delivery robberies in the area at the same time, but the only one they could tie to this case was one that happened in the 6th police district. Both suspects confessed to the robberies, and Sgt. Massi credits the public for helping to get these dangerous suspects off the street.