WATCH YOURSELF
Shock moment Ibiza tourist has £430k Rolex swiped from wrist in SECONDS as gang underworld targeting tourists laid bare
Brits flock to the party island every summer
THIS is the shocking moment one Ibiza tourist has a €500,000 (£430,000) watch stolen from right off his wrist.
Zara McDermott's new BBC show Ibiza: Secrets of the Party Island has revealed how watch-targeting gangs take only seconds to snatch a timepiece.
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Zara, 27, is no stranger to a holiday on the island, having visited there many times, including as a social media influencer.
Having showcased the glitz and glamour of life in Ibiza, she's now revealing the dark side to the island, including its criminal underbelly.
The idyllic island popular with Brit tourists looking for a good time has developed a problem with watch crime.
Spanish police show Zara how one €500,000 Richard Mille watch was stolen off the arm of a man inside a Rolls Royce.
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An undercover officer plays CCTV of a man in a motorbike helmet walk past the Phantom casing the watch.
He then doubles back to the motor with its window down, reaches inside, and after a quick struggle, yanks the watch off the man's arm and jumps on the back of a motorbike.
Zara says the crime took place so quickly, with the officer saying it only takes three seconds.
The officer says: "They know when he leaves the hotel that this man has this watch on his wrist.
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"Three seconds, half a million Euros, it is a great business. These gangs came here only to do this. Quick money."
Police later arrested the gang and found cash, cellphones, and the motorbike helmets.
Spanish police arrest two squatters accused of attacking the British owners of a house in Ibiza
"We have more [stealing] and more because of wealthy people," says one police officer.
On the strip one night in early June, police find one tourist who has had a €10,000 (£8,600) Rolex snatched right off his hand.
The man describes one man coming up to him and grabbing his arm then forcing the watch off it before he can react.
Zara says: "It feels like quite a public place to steal someone's watch."
Police say he would have been followed and targeted because he was drunk and because he was wearing a VIP wristband.
"It's not something casual," replies the officer.
"Gangs are coming here who make these kinds of robberies."
Zara meets Marcus, a Brit who runs a private security firm on Ibiza, who explains how the crime outfits works.
Marcus says street level crime is sophisticated and the gangs are Neapolitan mafia who specifically come to the island to steal.
He says: "Some of the gangs that come here check themselves into four and five star hotels for two months.
"That's a working expense that's got to be covered before they start putting money in their pockets."
Marcus says that higher ranking members of the gangs can be seen in the VIP areas of the clubs and can spend €40,000 a night partying.
He adds: "They're partying on the money they've made stealing from the people surrounding them in VIP."
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Marcus says that when an expensive watch is spotted then a gang member will follow them out of the club, while another will then follow them back to their home.
The thieves will then break into the house and steal the watch and then get it on the black market in wealthy cities like Dubai.
Brit homeowners battered with baseball bats by squatters in Ibiza
A BRIT couple flew to their home in Ibiza where they were assaulted by squatters who had turned the house into a cannabis farm.
The men allegedly attacked them with baseball bats and chains and threatened them with what police believe was a shotgun.
The Spanish men, who have been arrested, stole their suitcases and demanded £1,725 to return them.
Cops said the squatters had converted two rooms at the home, in south-west Ibiza, into a cannabis farm.
Heavily-armed officers had to force their way into the property after getting a court order to arrest the men so the Brits could recover their villa.
Cops revealed footage of the two suspects being led away last week after their arrest.
The men are both Spanish with criminal records for violent crimes and drug trafficking.
They have been accused of various crimes including robbery, wounding and threats.
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