A suspected mugger was arrested in Pietà on Thursday night, just 20 minutes after a woman had reported being robbed at knifepoint close by. 

The police said officers stopped the suspect, a 24-year-old man from Gambia, because he matched a physical description provided by a woman who had just been robbed. 

Officers searched the suspect and found a mobile phone that the woman had reported stolen. 

The suspect is alleged to have approached a 27-year-old Colombian woman on Telgħet Gwardamanġa and held a knife to her throat as he demanded money from her. 

He then took her mobile phone and fled the scene. 

Officers from the police’s major crimes unit and rapid intervention unit caught him 20-odd minutes later. The suspect is being held at police headquarters in Floriana, the police said.