Gang of Thieves Who Tried To Rob Ozil and Kolasinac Jailed For 100 Years (Pictures)

A gang of armed thieves who tried to rob Arsenal stars Mezut Ozil and Sead Kolasinac of their £200,000 watches have been jailed for more than 100 years.

The eight men, who carried knives, machetes and firearms, terrorised wealthy north London neighbourhoods with a string of violent robberies between April 2019 and July 2020.

They wore masks as they broke into luxury homes and ambushed people in their cars before demanding they hand over jewellery and cash, often at knifepoint.

One of the gang, Jordan Northover, 28, had attempted to rob two Arsenal stars of their £200,000 watches at the point of a knitting needle on July 25, 2019.

Sead Kolasinac, 27, was a passenger in teammate Mesut Ozil’s black Mercedes G-Class jeep when they were ambushed in Hampstead, northwest London.

CCTV footage shows Bosnian defender Kolasinac, known as ‘The Tank’, jumping out of the passenger seat of Ozil’s £165,000 4×4 to fight off Northover who prods him with the needle.

But Kolasinac didn’t flinch, instead squaring up to the thugs – who arrived on a moped – and attempting to knock them out before jumping back inside the vehicle.

Ozil, 32, who earned £350,000 per-week at Arsenal, sped away down the wrong side of a road in Childs Hill following the attack on July 25 and took refuge at a Turkish restaurant.

Northover was previously handed a six-year sentence for the attempted robbery.

The gang of eight were sentenced at Harrow Crown Court on Monday and Tuesday following the campaign of violence.

They are understood to have committed around 20 offences in total.

In one terrifying raid, five masked men armed with a knife smashed open the door of an 80-year-old woman’s bedroom and demanded she told them where her safe was.

They smashed her wardrobes and forced her to the floor on May 19, but eventually left when the horrified victim confessed she did not have a lock box.

On April 10 last year, a driver was waiting in his car when a machete was forced through the window. He ran from his car but was chased, threatened and made to hand over his Rolex.