A British tourist was robbed for his £150,000 designer watch after having his mobile phone stolen moments earlier during a night out in Mallorca.
The 55-year-old tourist was the target of two separate consecutive crimes after leaving a bar on Palma's seafront promenade.
Senegalese migrant Mbengue Alla, 31, followed his victim out of popular nightclub La Bodeguita del Medio before stealing her £840 iPhone while taking money from a nearby machine.
Algerians Amine Benserai, 34, and Hicham Ziroki, 33, robbed the tourist moments later, throwing him to the ground and ripping his diamond Rolex President Day-Date watch from his wrist before fleeing the scene.
The owner valued it at £150,000 when he reported it to the police, although Spanish authorities later estimated its price at just over £100,000.
Palma seafront. A British tourist was robbed for his £150,000 designer watch after having his mobile phone stolen moments earlier during a night out in Mallorca
Algerians Amine Benserai, 34, and Hicham Ziroki, 33, robbed the tourist, throwing him to the ground and ripping his diamond Rolex President Day-Date watch from his wrist before fleeing the scene. The owner valued it at £150,000 when he reported it to the police
Details of the shocking crimes emerged overnight after the trio responsible were taken to court and prosecutors said the men had targeted the robbery victim in separate incidents and were not partners in crime.
Alla was given a three-month suspended prison sentence for the watch theft, following a trial in a Palma court.
The two Algerians were jailed for two years each for the violent Rolex robbery.
Another Senegalese man who was sold the designer watch for just £5,000, called Mbaye Modou Anna, received a six-month suspended prison sentence for receiving stolen goods.
The unidentified British tourist was targeted in the early hours of March 10. The two Rolex thieves were arrested the following month and have been detained ever since.
They are expected to serve the full sentence, made public yesterday, unless they compensate the victim for the estimated cost of his valuable watch.
The center of Palma. The unidentified British tourist was targeted in the early hours of March 10. The two Rolex thieves were arrested the following month and have been detained ever since.
News of the violent robbery and prison sentences for the offenders came days after two British tourists were caught in a horrific robbery in the famous Costa Brava resort of Lloret de Mar, and a one-year-old baby was slapped by a 31 year old man. -old Ecuadorian man in a tourist spot in Barcelona.
The child's French tourist father was photographed lifting the crying boy into his arms before he and the baby's mother quickly walked away from the attacker following Sunday's incident in Montjuic Park in the Catalan capital.
The suspect was initially described as a Moroccan migrant before police confirmed he was from Ecuador.
He was scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, but ended up admitted to a hospital psychiatric unit.
A British couple were among four tourists targeted in Lloret hours later.
A masked robber ambushed them before demanding their money and other valuables.
One of the tourists, described as a woman, was stabbed during a fight with the attacker, after he refused to comply with his demands.
Local news website Lloret Gaceta said the victim was “bleeding profusely” when police arrived to take him to a nearby hospital in the town of Blanes.
Mallorca has been at the forefront of mass anti-tourism demonstrations by locals this year, with two large marches organized in Palma. Protesters cite a lack of affordable housing due to excessive Airbnb-style rentals and noise pollution as some of the problems
The robbery suspect was arrested near the scene. A cell phone belonging to the visitors was recovered during detention.
Mallorca has been at the forefront of mass anti-tourism demonstrations by locals this year, with two large marches organized in Palma.
Protesters cite a lack of affordable housing due to excessive Airbnb-style rentals and noise pollution as some of the problems.
There is no evidence to suggest that the baby incidents in Barcelona, Monday's stabbing in Lloret, or the Rolex robbery in the Mallorcan capital are in any way linked to the mass tourism upheaval.
