Four people have been sentenced after the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad caught them trying to steal a valuable watch.
The squad was working in London’s West End following a spate of watch robberies in the area and they spotted a group of four men acting suspiciously in the early hours of last August 12.
They saw a 29-year-old man leave a bar in Berkley Square at about 2am and get in a taxi home – which was followed by a vehicle containing four people who had been acting suspiciously earlier in the evening.
When the victim got home about 20 minutes later, he was grabbed and put in a chokehold while violently being dragged to the ground.
One of the group grabbed his wrist to try and steal his £2,000 watch, but couldn’t work out how to detach the clasp so they all ran away.
Flying Squad officers followed and all four were arrested shortly after.
They appeared at Southwark crown court last week and were sentenced for attempted robbery.
Abukar Aligas, 23, of Holland Road, Brent, Mahamud Gudal, 22, of no fixed address, and Abdikafi Omar, 21, of Buchanan Gardans, Brent were all sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.
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Zakaria Mohammed, 22 and of Leghorn Road, Brent was sentenced to two years and 12 weeks in prison.
Detective Sergeant Gary Taylor said: ‘I am proud that the proactive work my team does, as demonstrated in this case, resulted in the arrests and the sentencing of these four individuals.
‘We are doing everything in our power to ensure London’s streets are safer and that criminals like these are brought to justice. We remain committed to tackling robbery in all its forms.’
The Flying Squad is a branch of the serious and organised crime unit of the Met Police and is also known as the Robbery Squad.
