The Flying Squad and the Westminster Robbery Squad carried out a proactive operation to target criminals following a series of watch robberies in the West End area.
On 12 August 2022, the Flying Squad caught four men following a violent attack on a 29-year-old man who was wearing a watch worth £2,000.
The Flying Squad had been monitoring the group’s movements as they were acting suspiciously in the area. This behaviour matched that of those who had been involved in recent high-value watch robberies that the Westminster Robbery Squad and the Flying Squad had investigated, confirmed Met Police via their website.
During the attempted robbery of a watch, the victim was said to have been ‘grabbed around his neck and put in a chokehold’.
One of the men then grabbed the victim’s wrist in an attempt to take and steal his watch, but ‘could not work out how to detach the clasp’.
The group was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on 20 April 2023 for attempted robbery.
Abukar Aligas from Brent, Mahamud Gudal from no fixed address and Abdikafi Omar from Brent were sentenced to two years, suspended for two years, while Zakaria Mohammed, from Brent, was sentenced to 2 years and 12 weeks in custody.
Detective Sergeant Gary Taylor, who led the investigation and the proactive operation, expressed pride in his team’s work and commitment to ensuring London’s streets are safer.
In his words, “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.”
