Cops: Thugs pull gun on man, demand smokes

Police detectives are looking for two men who they say forced a man at gunpoint to buy cigarettes and cigars for them at a West Philly gas station before running off with his cellphone.

About 1 a.m. Tuesday, the robbers approached a man on Cedar Avenue near 47th Street, took his phone and then walked him to a nearby Sunoco station on Baltimore Avenue, police said.

The two forced the man to buy the smokes, then returned and had him withdraw an undisclosed amount of money from his bank account, cops said.

After that, police said, the robbers walked the man to 46th Street, told him to lie on the ground and then ran off.

Police said one robber is black, in his mid-20s and about 5 feet 10 and 160 pounds, with a sharp nose and an Afro. He was wearing a black polo shirt and dark-blue jeans and was carrying a handgun, police said. The second robber was described as a black man in his early to mid-20s, about 6 feet 2 and about 200 pounds, with short hair and a round nose. He wore a black, hooded shirt and black pants with white stripes.

A surveillance camera recorded the men entering and leaving the Sunoco with the victim twice, and police have posted it online.

Tipsters are asked to call Southwest Detectives at 215-686-3183.