Story By:  Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency:  Newsflash

This is the moment two lovebirds walk hand-in-hand along the pavement before two robbers arrive on a motorbike and the lad runs off, leaving his young girlfriend to take the heat.

The incident was filmed in the neighbourhood of Poligonos in the municipality of Ecatepec de Morelos in the Mexican state of Mexico.

Despite showing a different timecode in the footage, Mexican reports this week said the incident took place on 21st May.

In the video, the young lovebirds are seen walking along the pavement as two men on a motorbike approach and one of them jumps off the back to confront the couple.

As soon as he sees the two men, the boyfriend suddenly takes off and leaves his young girlfriend all alone.

The suspect tries to trip the fleeing lad, but he apparently gets away and the man turns his attention to the young woman.

He takes her mobile phone from her pocket and jumps on the back of the motorbike before fleeing the scene.

After the footage was widely shared on social media, many netizens criticised the young man for abandoning his girlfriend in such a dangerous situation. However, due to the high rate of crime in the area, some online commentators said he did the right thing.

According to the National Survey on Urban Public Safety, 94.4 per cent of adults in Ecatepec said they felt unsafe in their city in 2020, an increase of 2.4 per cent compared to 2019.