Gangs steal £1m of luxury watches from West End wrists every month, police reveal in court

Organised gangs are ripping £1 million worth of luxury watches from the wrists of Londoners and visitors in the West End each month, Metropolitan Police figures revealed at Southwark Crown Court. The statistics emerged as Younes Djoudi, Ali Eldahouzze and Abdel El Habchi were sentenced for stealing a diamond-encrusted £137,000 Richard Mille watch from Romanian entrepreneur Catalin Botezatu just before midnight on 28 January. Detective Sergeant Andy Swindells warned that despite all police efforts, high-value watch robbery "remains a problem" and many incidents "have seen violence".

Knives were "seen or intimated" in 20% of West End watch robberies in the first six months of 2026.

Victims are being "punched and kicked and injured" by suspects targeting the night-time economy, the court heard.

A further 70 high-value watches were stolen between July and September alone, on top of 97 robberies in the first half of the year.