Two men who stole expensive watches worth a total of £100,000 during a string of robberies have been jailed for almost 15 years.
Mahdi Palain, 26 and Abdelali Triki, 21, from Wood Green, north London, were both sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Friday.
Palain had earlier pleaded guilty to five counts of robbery but was found guilty of possession of a stun gun.
Mahdi Palain, 26, left, and Abdelai Triki, from Wood Green, north London were sentenced to a total of almost 15 years in prison after admitting a string of robberies across central London
He received five and a half years in prison for the robberies and a further two and a half years for the stun gun offence. The judge ruled both sentences were to run consecutively.
He also pleaded guilty to using a fraudulent passport with intent and received a further 18 month in prison. However this jail term will run concurrently with the other prison sentences
His accomplice, Triki, had earlier pleaded guilty to possession of the stun gun and three robberies.
He was jailed for six and a half years for the robberies and 18 months for the stun gun. Unlike Palain, his sentences are scheduled to run concurrently.
Southwark Crown Court heard that the men targeted central London including Kensington and Chelsea as well as the West End between August and October 2017.
Triki had taken part in three of the five attacks.
The court heard that during each robbery, the victim was physically restrained and ordered to hand over their watch. The final victim, a 26-year-old man, was attacked with the stun gun.
The first victim was attacked on August 4, around 6pm in Rutland Gate, SW7. Palain and a second man approached the 19-year-old victim and dragged him to the ground, ripping off his £25,000 Audemars Piguet watch.
Police recovered a hat and a wallet from the scene linking Palain to the crime.
Southwark Crown Court heard that none of the five watches had been recovered by police
On August 25, a 16-year-old boy was attacked on Brompton Road around 11.40pm. Palain forced the boy to remove his £5,000 Rolex. Police recovered Palain’s baseball cap from the scene.
The third offence took place on September 15 on Hans Road, SW3. Palain and Triki attacked a 50-year-old woman and ordered her to hand over her £6,000 Hublot watch.
The fourth attack happened on October 1 at 3am. The pair approached an 18-year-old man and his friend in Knightsbridge when they offered the victim cannabis. The two men ignored Palain and Triki and tried to walk off.
The criminals followed the pair and grabbed the victim forcing him to hand over his £8,000 Rolex. Triki then took out a knife and ordered his victim to hand over £30 from his wallet.
In the final offence on October 27, Palain and Triki approached their victim on North Audley Street, W1 at 9.25pm. Triki shot the victim with a stun gun before stealing his £60,000 Audemars Piguet watch.
Police were able to track down the pair using forensic evidence, CCTV analysis and the fact both criminals wore distinctive clothing during the attacks.
None of the watches have been recovered.
Detective Sergeant Shaun Holyhead of the Met’s Roads and Transport Policing Command, Proactive Unit said: ‘Palain and Triki carried out a series of offences, using an escalating level of violence to intimidate those they targeted while stealing their watches. Given this level of violence it is only by sheer luck none of their victims were seriously injured during these attacks.
‘This was a diligent and painstaking investigation which has led to two violent criminals being removed from the streets. I only hope the sentences handed down will provide some form of closure to those who fell victim to Palain and Triki.’