Police arrested five suspected muggers with help from the Bo-Kaap Neighbourhood Watch.
Watch patrollers called for back-up after confronting the men, aged 19 to 28, in the neighbourhood in the early hours last Thursday.
City law enforcement officers responded and searched the men, finding an iPhone 6, a brown leather wallet, a knife, a pair of scissors and suspected tik, according to Cape Town Central police spokesman, Captain Ezra October.
The officers had called a number on the phone’s emergency contact list and spoken to the mother of the device’s lawful owner.
She told them a group of men had mugged her son at knifepoint in the city centre and taken his phone and wallet.
Captain October said all five men had criminal records.
They were held at Cape Town Central station, where they were charged with possession of stolen property, possession of dangerous weapons and possession of drugs.
The mugging victim had since opened a case of robbery, he said.
“This arrest once again highlights the importance of community involvement in the fight against crime,” he said.
Police arrested a suspected drug dealer in Riebeeck Street on Tuesday March 19.
The Delft man was caught with 28 packets of tik, say police.
The Cape Town police have warned that Strand and Adderley streets, in the daytime, and Long, Loop, Sir Lowry, Chapel and Keizersgracht streets, at night, are hot spots for thefts from cars and muggings.
Captain October urged the public to watch out for people using remote-control jamming devices that stop cars locking.