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Date Published: 10/06/2022

ARCHIVED - American tourist has 1m dollar watch stolen in Barcelona mugging

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The holidaymaker was targeted by a gang of four outside his 5-star hotel in Spain

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - American tourist has 1m dollar watch stolen in Barcelona mugging

A wealthy American tourist had a designer watch worth 1 million dollars snatched from his wrist as he returned to his swanky Barcelona hotel on Tuesday June 7.

According to official reports, the lone holidaymaker was close to the Gothic Quarter’s 5-star Mercer Hotel on Calle Lledo when he was set upon by a gang of muggers. The man had just finished lunch at a nearby restaurant shortly after 2pm when the muggers approached him.

Officers from Barcelona’s Police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, are searching for four men who perpetrated the attack, during which the tourist received minor injuries. He was robbed of his Swiss-made Hubolt watch, which unconfirmed reports claim was actually a luxury Black Caviar Bang model.

This stylish watch takes more than 2,000 man-hours to make and is encrusted with hundreds of tiny, valuable diamonds. The limited-edition timepiece would have set the American back 1 million US dollars.

A spokesperson for the Mossos d’Esquadra said: “I can confirm we are investigating the violent theft of a designer watch worth £685,000 following a complaint from a tourist.

“The person who reported the crime said he was surrounded by a gang of muggers who snatched the watch off his wrist.

“The incident reportedly happened around 2.20pm on Tuesday. No arrests have yet been made.”

Unfortunately, this type of crime is on the rise with gangs targeting wealthy-looking holidaymakers in popular tourist spots like Barcelona, Mallorca and Ibiza, where a group of young criminals terrorised tourists in San Antonio earlier this month.

According to one Ibiza businessman: “They act swiftly, without speaking or drawing attention to themselves so as to surprise their victims.

“They are very well prepared. Before this used to happen at night-time but now they strike at any time of the day.”

Image: Haute Horlogerie

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