Bogotá Reporter Dodges Two Bicycle Phone Snatchers During Live Broadcast

In Bogotá, Colombia's capital, two men on bicycles tried on Wednesday, October 21, to snatch a phone from a television reporter during a live broadcast. Reporter Miguel Ángel Peñaranda dodged both attempts at around 10:19 p.m. local time, kept his device and continued the broadcast.

Peñaranda works for the Colombian news program Noticias Uno and for the show "El Reporte Coronell." He was standing on a lit street at night, holding the microphone with the Noticias Uno logo in one hand and his phone in the other. The first cyclist rode close past him and grabbed for the phone. Seconds later, a second man tried again.

"Whew, a man just rode past and almost took my phone. Look, two of them," Peñaranda said during the live broadcast. In the footage, he looks to the side several times. According to Noticias Uno, nothing was stolen and the reporter was unharmed.

Colleagues confirm the incident live

Jhonathan Taborda Carmona, a presenter and producer at Noticias Uno, described the events to viewers: "They're trying to rob him several times. Twice they tried to snatch his phone." Journalist and consultant Yezid Daniel Baquero advised Peñaranda to go to a nearby doorman's booth so he could keep working more safely from there.

At that point, the program, in which Daniel Coronell also took part, was dealing with statements by Víctor de Currea-Lugo about Salvatore Mancuso. Noticias Uno published the video on October 22 on its official X account. The news account AlertaNews24 shared a 22-second clip on X with text saying a reporter in the Colombian capital had evaded two robbery attempts by thieves on bicycles.

According to the news outlet Infobae, no arrests or criminal complaint are known.

High number of thefts in the capital

In Colombia, thefts in which perpetrators snatch items from passersby as they walk or ride past are colloquially called "raponazo." According to figures from the Concejo de Bogotá, the capital's city council, there were 55,137 thefts from individuals from January to June 2026, about 305 per day. According to the council, 14,274 phones were stolen from January to May.

The city administration reported a 16 percent decline in thefts from individuals for January through September 2026 compared with the same period last year and attributed it to more patrols and checks. Peñaranda later said in the broadcast: "Insecurity in Bogotá is enormous, even at this hour."