Court records show the two men police say tore a €50,000 gold Rolex from an American visitor's wrist had been arrested together one week earlier for a nearly identical attack on an 89-year-old man.

BARCELONA — Two men accused by Catalan police of a coordinated, violent snatch of a gold Rolex on Barcelona's beachfront promenade have been released without bail. According to court records reviewed by USA Herald, both had been arrested together a week before the attack for allegedly ripping a watch from the wrist of an 89-year-old man.

The suspects are Chkalaagon Boudifa, 31, and Ayoub Taouabi, 19, both Algerian nationals living in Barcelona. A Barcelona investigating court reopened the case on October 22 after police identified them. A third suspect has not been identified, and the watch has not been recovered.

The attack

Shortly after midnight on June 24, 2026, an American visitor was walking with family and friends along the Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, one of the city's busiest tourist strips. According to the police report, one man grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. A second man tore a gold Rolex Sky-Dweller, valued at about €50,000, off his left wrist.

The victim chased the man with the watch down the promenade. The thief jumped onto the back of a waiting electric scooter, and the pair sped off toward Carrer Pepe Rubianes. The victim suffered injuries to his knee, elbow and lower body, according to the medical report filed with the case.

How police say the crew worked

Investigators from the Mossos d'Esquadra, Catalonia's regional police, pulled footage from Barcelona city cameras and a beachfront venue. Their September report lays out a sequence that police describe as "a degree of coordination similar to that of a gang."

According to the report, the three men met on the promenade minutes before the robbery and then split up. Two of them crossed paths with the victim and began following him, talking on their mobile phones as they walked. One of them then directed the scooter driver into position for the getaway before the two closed in on the victim.

Police identify Boudifa as the man who tore the watch from the victim's wrist and Taouabi as the scooter driver. Two officers from the Mossos' urban crime unit recognized both men from the footage "without any doubt," according to the report. The man who allegedly pinned the victim's arm remains unidentified.

Prior arrests

The police report details the suspects' records:

• June 16, 2026: Boudifa and Taouabi were arrested together in the act, with a third man, for allegedly jumping an 89-year-old man and tearing the watch from his wrist. That watch was recovered.




• Taouabi has five arrests as an adult since June 2026. They include an August 21 arrest for allegedly ripping a Hublot from a man walking with his young daughter. Police say he was also arrested once as a minor.




• Boudifa has three arrests. They include an August 2025 violent robbery in which the victim was punched in the face and had a tooth broken. Police also report that he has an unserved eight-month prison sentence for theft, which a court suspended on the condition that he not reoffend.

Both men have been recorded by police under alternate names: "Ayoub Abderoouf Touabi" and "Alaaddin Budiaf."

Arrested, then released

Police issued search-and-arrest warrants for both men in September. Officers on patrol picked up Taouabi on the Barceloneta promenade on September 25, and Boudifa on Carrer de Ginebra on October 11. Both declined to make statements to police or to the judge.

At Taouabi's hearing, the victim's attorney asked that he be jailed pending trial. The public prosecutor did not request any measures. The duty judge released him without bail, writing that the original police reports had not been sent to the court. As a result, the judge did not know who the victim was, what had been taken or what injuries he had suffered.

Boudifa was released without bail by a different duty judge the following month. Both men must appear when summoned and report any change of address.

Where the case stands

Both arrest files have now been merged into the original case, Diligencias Previas 1108/2026, before Barcelona's Investigating Court No. 15. The court had provisionally closed the case in July, when no suspects had been identified.

In its October 22 reopening order, the court called for a court-appointed appraisal of the watch and a forensic medical report on the victim's injuries. The victim has joined the case as a private prosecutor, which Spanish law allows, through the Barcelona criminal law firm Belmonte & Sugrañes.

Under Spanish law, robbery with violence carries a sentence of two to five years in prison. Both men are presumed innocent unless convicted.

A growing problem

The police report says watch robberies of this kind have "caused great social alarm" in Barcelona and are damaging the city's image. Crews target high-value watches in tourist areas, follow their victims, then corner them, according to police. Investigators estimate that the thieves resell stolen watches through criminal networks for 30% to 50% of their value, often in other countries.

The report also notes that only a small percentage of suspects in these cases show up for trial. Police attribute that to their mobility across Europe's Schengen zone and their lack of ties to Spain.