Three passengers robbed a cab driver last week, running away with €400 and debit cards that were in his backpack.

Aneesh Kuyilamparambil had just completed an uneventful trip, driving a man and two teenagers to Safi in his cab van. But things quickly turned sour when the three passengers tried to steal his phone and backpack in the dark village centre, Kuyilamparambil said.

During the attack, the Safi centre was without power, he noted. The normally quiet village was among the localities affected by a week of periodic power cuts.

While the 40-year-old managed to wrangle the phone from one of the assailant’s hands, the two teenagers ran away with the backpack that contained €400, debit cards and documents.

“The situation reminded me of when I used to work in Yemen,” said Kuyilamparambil, who lived in the war-torn country 10 years ago.

“That country is very unsafe.”

The Indian national has been living in Malta for the past two years but said he had never experienced a similar situation.

Kuyilamparambil described how his three passengers, probably Maltese nationals, had been friendly and pleasant during the trip from Vittoriosa.

“They were friendly and making small talk, even connecting their phone to the vehicle so they could play their music.”

But as the Uber trip came to an end  and the cab driver asked the passengers to pay, the mood changed.

The older assailant first said they would pay via Revolut and asked for his phone.

“That didn’t make sense since they could pay me by just having my phone number,” he said.

“One of the passengers started shouting. I think he was using drugs,” he continued.

That was when the older assailant, who seemed to be in his early 20s, tried to snatch Kuyilamparambil’s phone. As the driver struggled with the man, the younger passengers ran away with his bag. The third assailant soon followed suit.

Dumbstruck, the cab driver chased the three passengers for some 400 metres but they soon managed to outrun the cab driver.

Having called the police emergency number, Kuyilamparambil was told to file a report at the Birżebbuġa police station but when he got there, a patrolling police officer directed him to Żejtun, where he filed the report.

Two days later, Kuyilamparambil received a suspicious phone call from someone claiming to be from Revolut. The male voice asked for Kuyilamparambil’s debit card information, which he refused to give.

Three days after the robbery, he received a call from the police saying his bag was found on the street. The money was missing but Kuyilamparambil’s residence card and driving licence were there, though he had already reapplied for replacements.

He is now waiting for the police investigations to be concluded. Kuyilamparambil hopes CCTV footage in Vittoriosa, close to where he picked up the three assailants, will help the police in their work.

Police confirmed investigations are ongoing.

Kuyilamparambil also reported the incident to Uber.

In a reply, Uber told the cab driver that they will follow up with the passenger to take the “appropriate action”.

“We also made some changes in the app to reduce the chance of being paired with this rider in the future,” Uber told Kuyilamparambil.

Uber told the driver to report the incident to the police and added they would do their “utmost to assist their investigation”.