Cops have collared two teens suspected of being members of a violent crew targeting cabbies in the city’s northeast for weeks.
Police on Wednesday charged a 15- and 16-year-old with multiple counts of robbery and assault linked to a string of violent attacks that saw a group of teens lure cabbies out of their vehicles and ambushing them.
Two more youths are being sought by police and are facing charges in relation to the attacks.
District 5 Insp. Steve Lorne said the attacks, of which there had been seven since Feb. 14, created fear in the taxi community and became a top priority for investigators.
“These crimes were quite violent — because of the viciousness of some of these robberies this was a top priority,” he said, noting the attacks were drug, but not gang-related.
“We are looking for two other individuals and it’s just a matter of time before we pick them up.”
Lorne said the youths, operating in Falconridge and Abbeydale, would order a cab and at the destination would lure the driver out of the vehicle where he or she would be jumped.
In five of the robberies, drivers were assaulted with weapons, police said.
Ald. Ray Jones, who sits on the taxi commission, said the attacks renewed calls by cabbies for more security measures including reinforced glass and on-board cameras.
But he said neither of those measures would have helped in this case and it shouldn’t be up to taxpayers to foot the bill.
“They want taxpayers to pay for it and that isn’t going to happen,” Jones said of the security measures.
