Stealing a dollar note found on the side of the road is bad enough so imagine stealing a number of luxurious watches owned by none other than Morocco's king. The difference is that the latter actually comes with a substantial punishment.
Over the weekend, a Moroccan court sentenced a 46-year-old woman to 15 years in prison for stealing luxury watches owned by King Mohammed VI.
According to media reports, the woman worked as a cleaner in the palace. She was recently convicted of stealing 36 watches and forming "a criminal gang" that helped trade the stolen items for cash.
Fourteen men, including the gold merchants she sold the watches to, were also convicted for their involvement in the crime. The latter have been sentenced to at least four years. One of the men, the woman's accomplice, has been jailed for 15 years.
One of the defendant's lawyers has claimed that the cheapest watch among those stolen was valued at about $20,000.
Most of the watches were sold in parts, rather than in full pieces. The worker is reported to have broken most of the watches into components (after stripping them of diamonds and gold) and then sold the pieces to merchants in Casablanca, Fez, and Rabat.
According to Sayidaty, one of the accused men used the money that was cashed in to buy golf cars worth nearly $16,000 each and an apartment worth $26,000 in his sister's name.
King Mohammed VI is quite known for his lavish and fashionable lifestyle. Regarding the latter, the Moroccan king is known for embracing daring prints and colors when he need not be in traditional Moroccan garb or a professional suit. When it comes to the former, his watches, net worth, and cars say it all.
In 2015, the Moroccan king made it on Forbes' list of "Africa's 50 Richest" with a net worth of $5.7 billion at the time. However, the royal didn't make it to Forbes' 2019 list of the richest people in the world. But that doesn't mean he's not wealthy. His watches are worth a million words.
In 2018, Patek Philippe shared a photo on Instagram of the king wearing a diamond-encrusted timepiece from their collection. That watch is said to be worth about $1.2 million. And that's just one out of many watches owned by the Moroccan king.