Two men have been jailed following a string of violent watch robberies in central London.
22-year-old Nizar Msaad and 26-year-old Shaquille Allen were both sentenced to 40 months’ imprisonment at Wood Green Crow Court after pleading guilty to two counts of robbery and three counts of attempted robbery at an earlier hearing.
Allen was also given an extra 54 months imprisonment for a separate offence.
All the incidents took place on Saturday, 1 October 2022 in the W1 area, where Msaad and Allen used a moped to target members of the public for their expensive watches during a two-hour period that evening.
In the first incident in Audley Street a man was approached by two men on a moped. The victim was knocked to the ground and threatened him with a machete in an attempt to steal his watch.
A member of staff from a nearby pub intervened and the two men fled on the moped; the man who was attacked was not injured but left before police arrived.
In fact this victim was never traced, but four other victims came forward and reported being robbed or being subjected to an attempted robbery. Two victims had their Rolex watches stolen.
An investigation was launched by detectives from Operation Venice, the Met’s specialist team that targets moped enabled crime.
They spent hours looking at CCTV to trace the suspects and followed the suspects’ route through the streets of London.
The CCTV footage showed the two suspects on a moped using machetes as well as punching, kicking and running over their victims in a two-hour crime spree.
Finally they were able to get CCTV that showed the robbers taking off their crash helmets meaning officers were able to identify them.
They were also able to follow the CCTV to locate the bike the pair had used and, when recovered, they found DNA that linked the bike to Msaad and Allen.
Detective Constable Mike Bagnall from Operation Venice, said: “These were violent attacks on innocent people in the middle of the street in central London. It was just fortunate that no one was seriously injured during these reckless offences.
“The investigation was thorough and detailed and we were able to trace the Msaad and Allen and build an overwhelming case against them. These were violent robberies and I am glad our determination to find those responsible enabled us to take both these men off the streets.”
