Two Nigerians, Emmanuel Sejilola and Damilola Odunoren, were among members of a criminal gang, Rolex Ripper, arrested for targeting luxury watch owners in the U.K.
According to the Daily Mail, Scotland Yard recently deployed a squad of undercover officers posing as victims in unprecedented sting to capture the so-called Rolex Rippers responsible for a spate of v#olent watch muggings across the capital.
The Telegraph UK reports that three hundred watches to the value of £4 million were st%len in six months as parts of ‘organized opportunist’ att@cks in central London. The report states that gangs with specialist knowledge of luxury watches commonly st£al brands including Rolex, Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe from “vulnerable” individuals who are under the influence of alc%hol or alone.
These thieves wait for people to leave bars and clubs and offer them access to s+x workers and dr¥gs before taking them down quiet streets and robbing them.
A group of plain-clothed officers volunteered to go out wearing valuable timepieces after analysis revealed that thieves tend to target well-heeled victims leaving pubs and clubs between 11pm-4am, Thursday to Saturday nights in Soho, where 40 per cent of London’s watch robberies take place. In a highly targeted operation, undercover officers were sent to streets known to be hotspots late at night where they quickly fell prey to robbers, who were unaware that they were the real targets.
Yesterday, the Met released extraordinary CCTV showing the moment that lone undercover officers were pounced on by hooded thugs ripping watches from their wrist before backup officers swooped. The footage shows brave officers being grtbbed by the throat after being ambushed by up to five r%bbers in some cases. But within seconds of carrying out the raid, the culprits were surrounded by taser-wielding Met officers.
The innovative tactic is said to have led to r%bberies halving in some areas as prolific attackers have been taken off the streets. Over two operations, which ran from October 2022 to December 2022 and March 2023 to October 2023 respectively, 27 peoplewere arrested and subsequently charged.
