Watches of Switzerland’s flagship 155 Regent Street store in London was raided by knife-wielding thieves on scooters yesterday morning.
It is the second time in just three months that that particular store has been the victim of such an attack, as police statistics reveal that the number of scooter-related crimes trebled between 2015 and 2017. Watches of Switzerland on London’s Oxford Street and Mappin & Webb on Regent Street, owned by the same parent company Aurum Holdings, have also been raided in the past 12 months.
Video footage shows the moped gang, who were also armed with sledgehammers, ramming a scooter into the front door of the shop, before fleeing the scene on their bikes.
One of the criminals was successfully apprehended by the police, who arrived at the scene of the crime just before 10.20am yesterday.
Adam Alabsia, a security guard at fashion store Massimo Dutti on Regent Street, told The Sun Online: “I saw about five people running out of the store. One guy ran down the street holding a blue bag and was dropping a few of the watches in the road. Three guys then got on a motorbike and sped off down Regent Street.
“This is three times we’ve seen it now. It’s happened three times in the last two months. It’s becoming quite common,” he added.
Despite a security device filling the store with dense smoke, the robbers managed to break into and empty several cabinets, thought to be mainly Rolex watches.
A police spokesman confirmed that “several items of property” were stolen.
“We need to catch these males before they strike again,” Detective Sergeant Richard Lewsley of the Metropolitan Police said.
Anyone with information can contact the police on 101 quoting CAD 7898/04 June, or @MetCC on Twitter.
