Two ‘Rolex rippers’ have been jailed for a total of five years after targeting undercover police officers who were posing as a wealthy couple bearing fake designer watches.
CCTV footage showed how Algerian national Yakob Harket, 21, grabbed a replica Patek Philippe rose gold aquanaut watch from the female officer’s wrist in Mayfair, west London.
He has now admitted robbery, alongside fellow defendant Mohamed Naas, 35, who was convicted of robbery by a jury after a three-day trial.
The police officers, who cannot be named, had donned expensive clothes and accessories to act as bait on October 10 last year.
They were seen tackling Harket while another male officer wearing a suit ran over and slips while wrestling with the robber.
Harket was filmed running away as a team of undercover officers arrested two of his associates on the other side of the street.
Harket was arrested shortly afterwards and admitted robbery at Southwark Crown Court.
Yanis Amri, 37, and Adel Mohamdi, 31, have now been convicted in their absence after they absconded. Arrest warrants were issued for the pair earlier this year.
CCTV footage showed how Algerian national Yakob Harket, 21, grabbed a replica Patek Philippe rose gold aquanaut watch from a female police officer’s wrist in Mayfair, west London
Yakob Harket, 21, has admitted robbery and been jailed at Southwark Crown Court in London
Fellow defendant Mohamed Naas, 35, was convicted of robbery by a jury after a three-day trial
The crown court judge Mr Recorder Jacques Algazy KC told Harket and Naas, who were assisted in the dock by an Arabic interpreter, how their offence had been a ‘highly organised crime involving stealing to order’.
He added: ‘This was motivated by greed, not need.’
Harket was jailed for two years after the judge took into account his guilty plea, while fellow Algerian Naas was jailed for three years.
The pair are set to be released on licence after serving only half their sentences.
Henry Laidlaw, prosecuting, described how the undercover officers referred to as A and B had been ‘tasked with walking around while posing as a wealthy couple’.
He told the court: ‘Each were wearing expensive watches. Officer B (male) was wearing a Rolex Sky Dealer watch, worth £40,000.
‘Officer A (female) was wearing a replica Patek Philippe rose gold aquanaut watch. The real version had a value of approximately £70,000.’
Jurors were shown several clips showing the officers walking from Berkeley Square to Hay’s Mews on the evening of October 10.
The police officers, who cannot be named, were wearing expensive garments and accessories as they played their part as bait for the criminals on October 10 last year
Naas, Amri and Mohamdi had followed the couple relaying information to Harket – and moments later Harket was seen reaching forward to grab Officer A’s wrist.
Mr Laidlaw told the court: ‘He ripped the Patek Philippe watch off her wrist but dropped it, so it was recovered.
‘You will have seen there, there were a large number of plain clothes officers who sprang into action. Mohamadi and Naas were arrested right next to the offence.’
Harket and Amri were arrested in the area minutes later.
Naas told police he had woken up at a friend’s house in Edgware Road, central London, before having lunch and going to Tottenham Court road for cigarettes and then meeting Mohamdi for coffee and they ended up in Shepherd’s Market in Mayfair.
The prosecutor Mr Laidlaw said: ‘Mr Naas said the robbery happened right in front of him. He said he knew Harket but they had never had a conversation.
‘The prosecution’s case, as evidenced by the phone, is he knew Harket well and had a lot of communication in the months leading up to the robbery.
‘Phones were downloaded and a number of internet searches had been made by Naas on 9 October for Richard Mille watches.’
Pictured left to right: Yanis Amri and Adel Mohamdi, convicted in their absence
He added that Naas was ‘doing his homework’ and one of the searches related to a Rafael Nadal Richard Mille watch worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Mr Laidlaw added: ‘Mr Naas did exactly what he was required to do, make sure they were under observation at all times.
‘It is the prosecution’s case that Naas was an essential cog in a machine and played a knowing and willing part in the robbery.
‘There was a degree of targeting of vulnerable individuals – they targeted the female officer. There was very significant force used.
‘The officer was clearly pulled to the ground and the watch was yanked from her wrist.’
Sasha Queffurus, defending Harket, told the court he had only recently come to the UK looking for work while describing how his mother had ‘very sadly’ died from cancer in Algeria ‘and he didn’t have the opportunity to say goodbye to her’.
She added of Harket: ‘He is ashamed by what he has done.’
Naas denied but was convicted of robbery, Mohamdi and Amri were convicted of robbery in their absence while Harket admitted the offence.
Jurors were shown several clips showing the officers walking from Berkeley Square to Hays Mews on the evening of 10 October, where they had been followed by the thieving gang
Mayfair now has the highest rate for watch robberies in Europe.
In April another Algerian, 28-year-old Anis Benemri, was jailed for 32 months for robbing tourist Karl Christian Septien of his £250,000 ‘Bubba Watson’ watch in front of his children outside the Novikov Restaurant on Berkeley Street.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: ‘Tackling violent crime is one of the Met’s priorities and we are determined to reduce the number of robberies.
‘Uniform and plain clothes officers proactively patrol robbery hotspots to identify offences taking place, but more importantly to help prevent and deter offenders from committing robberies in the first place.’
