An Edmonton couple in North Vancouver to attend a wedding last weekend have been left wondering whether they were they targeted through social media after they were robbed at gunpoint inside their hotel room.
The man and woman, both in their 20s, were back in their room following the wedding on Friday when a stranger they didn’t know — who introduced himself as a friend of a friend — knocked on their door.
When they opened it, three men burst into the room — one of them brandishing a pistol — and demanded that they hand over valuables.
One of the assailants also allegedly pistol-whipped the man by hitting him over the head with gun during the robbery.
The pair handed over their cell phones, wallets containing cash, jewelry and an iPad to the robbers, who quickly fled the scene.
But they didn’t get away for long.
When police arrived, the female victim told them prior to the events, she had had Facebook conversations with a friend, who urged her to meet up with an acquaintance in North Vancouver.
A little social media sleuthing quickly revealed the acquaintance under an alias on the social media as the same person the couple said was one of the men who had robbed them.
Using that information, police executed a search warrant Sunday morning at a North Vancouver home where the man was believed to be living. Three men were arrested in the house help of the RCMP’s Lower Mainland emergency response team.
Police seized a handgun, along with stolen property belonging to the couple and a small quantity of cocaine.
All three men were taken into police custody.
Liban Mohammend Hussein Robleh, 25 — also known as Ahmed Osmand — faces 11 charges, including threatening, assault causing bodily harm, possession of stolen property and a variety of weapons charges.
The two other adult men were released without charges.
De Jong said as the investigation progresses, more charges are possible.
De Jong refused to say where the couple was staying, what security measures were in place at the hotel and where they carried out the raid on Sunday.
He said investigators are waiting to see if any security camera surveillance video is available from the hotel. Investigators are also talking to other friends and acquaintances who were at the wedding to see if the couple may have been targeted or set up for the robbery.
Robleh — who court documents list as also being from Edmonton — is being held pending a bail hearing in North Vancouver provincial court.
De Jong said the couple was shaken up by what happened, but also relieved that they got some of their property back. They have since returned to Edmonton.
