Undercover police officers luring Rolex rippers by wearing luxury watches in crime hotspots

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Undercover officers are luring Rolex rippers by wearing luxury watches in crime hotspots, the Metropolitan Police has revealed.

The new undercover techniques have helped snare greater than 20 robbers in the capital in the previous yr and have been rolled out after 300 watches – with a complete worth of almost £4m -were stolen in London’s West End in the six months main as much as October 2022.

Dramatic CCTV footage reveals how undercover officers posing as members of the general public wearing high-value watches have been focused by criminals who lured them to a quiet avenue earlier than making an attempt to tear the watch from their wrists.

The pressure stated its two covert operations have been developed with precision techniques to focus on key instances and areas the place most watch theft takes place.

Data reveals most robberies occur in London’s West End between 11am and 4am, with criminals focusing on victims who had been ingesting as they go away nighttime venues.

Often, the attackers – who’ve specialist information of high-value watches – try and befriend a sufferer or provide them medicine earlier than taking them to a quiet spot to mug them.

The undercover operations resulted in 31 arrests and 27 profitable fees, resulting in 21 convictions thus far. Of this group, 14 people have to date been sentenced to a complete of 26 years in jail, with different circumstances pending.

Unveiling the outcomes, Ben Russell, Commander for Met Intelligence, paid tribute to the “immense professionalism and dedication” of his undercover officers.

“They are volunteering to stand alone in dark streets in the middle of the night waiting to be robbed. I am immensely proud of their work,” he stated, including it requires them to be “courageous, calm under pressure and uniquely dedicated to the task”.

The first operation, which ran between October and December 2022, resulted in a discount in watch thefts of 28 per cent throughout the boroughs of Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham.

The second operation ran from March to October 2023 and noticed a 15.8 per cent discount in watch robberies in comparison with the identical interval the earlier yr.

Footage of 1 covert operation confirmed an undercover officer being adopted by 4 hooded males in Soho’s Berwick Street in October final yr.

An undercover officer, whose identification can’t be revealed, described the sting: “About 20 minutes earlier a gentleman approached the undercover officer and asked if he would like to go to a brothel.

“He’s taken him on a walk around Soho and taken him to a quiet street. During that time they are being followed by four other males. This resulted in a robbery and four men were convicted.”

The footage reveals the boys activate the sufferer earlier than police sprang into motion to arrest the suspects.

A second clip reveals an undercover officer being focused in Soho’s Broadwick Street in March final yr.

“Three males had approached him earlier noticed his watch and tried to befriend him and bring him back to their house, before they attempted to rob him and pull the watch from his wrist,” the undercover officer defined.

Other footage revealed related operations in November 2022 and July 2023.

The officers stated the robbers are focusing on excessive worth luxury Swiss manufacturers like Rolex and Patek Philippe that retain worth on the second hand market, which will be value something from £10,000 as much as tons of of hundreds of kilos.

Commander Russell added: “This a rare chance to give the public insight into the work done by our undercover officers, which resulted in 31 robbers arrested in a 12-month period, all caught red-handed trying to steal high value watches in the heart of the West End. Fourteen have already been convicted, with more awaiting sentencing and other cases pending.

“Using data and intelligence, we identified the locations and times where these crimes were taking place and deployed undercover officers into the area, as part of our precision-based approach to fighting crime.

“By targeting the people causing the most harm and the locations most frequently linked to crime, we are having a greater impact on keeping people safe.

“Undercover operations will always carry an element of personal danger and, while we risk assess all our operations thoroughly, all the officers involved demonstrated extraordinary courage and determination to keep Londoners safe.”