A 19-year-old man has been charged with robbery and use of an imitation firearm related to an alleged robbery linked to a popular on-line buy / sell application.

The Surrey Robbery Unit began an investigation after police received a report of an alleged robbery which occurred around 6 p.m. on January 11. In that incident the victim arranged to meet with two individuals who had advertised a cell phone for sale using the “Let Go” app in the 11800-block of River Road.

When the buyer met up with the sellers, they were robbed of their personal property and the money they had brought along for the purchase of the cell phone.

Surrey RCMP frontline officers and the Integrated Police Dog Services (PDS) responded, but were unsuccessful in locating the suspects. The victim was physically unharmed during the incident.

Through subsequent investigation, police were able to identify a suspect and on January 30, Martin Djunga was arrested at a residence in Surrey.

Djunga is currently remanded until February 19, and is facing charges of robbery, the use imitation firearm, and two counts of breach of a release order.

The second suspect involved in the incident has not yet been identified. He is described as a black male, with short black hair. He was wearing a black or navy blue baseball cap, black sweatshirt and sweat pants at the time of the incident.

“We would like to raise the public’s awareness of the risks involved in these types of buy and sell transactions,” said Cpl. Rob Maione on Tuesday. “Even when meeting in a public place, there can be risks in meeting up to exchange cash or high value items with people you are not familiar with.”

Anyone with more information about this incident is asked to contact Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502, or Crime Stoppers, if they wish to remain anonymous, at 1-800-222-TIPS or www.solvecrime.ca quoting file number 2020-5737