Three teen boys were busted for mugging another trio in Central Park early Tuesday as robberies in the iconic greenspace surge, authorities and sources said.
The three male victims, 15, 21 and 35, were near the park’s Grand Army Plaza at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue when four young suspects approached them around 1 a.m., cops said.
One of the boys simulated a gun before his accomplices ripped off the victims’ AirPods and jewelry, cops and sources said.
One of the crooks managed to get away after the stick-up, but the other three soon landed in cuffs, with charges pending, police said.
Their ages were not immediately released, but police sources said they are all teen boys.
The early-morning theft came days after The Post revealed that both robberies and assaults are skyrocketing in Central Park.
The park has seen a 222% spike in the number of robberies reported so far in 2024, compared to the same point in 2023, NYPD data show.
The 29 incidents reported so far this year already surpasses the total number reported in 2019, according to the data.
Felonious assaults have jumped 100%, doubling from five to 10, and are up from seven in all of 2019, the data reveals.
In an Aug. 1 incident, a gang of up to 20 people, some believed to be as young as 8, surrounded and robbed 37-year-old software developer Julian De Flandres as he sat on a bench near Wollman Rink.
And in mid-July, a hate-spewing Citi Bike rider slugged 70-year-old Allan Ripp, calling him a “f—king Jew pig” and threatening to kill him along West Drive near the West 97th Street Transverse.
