Three Serbs charged in robbery at Riga watch store

RIGA - The Riga East Prosecutor's Office has levied charges against three Serbian nationals in connection with an armed robbery at the Baltic Watches store in Riga Old Town last April.

As LETA was told at the prosecutor's office, all three suspects have been charged with large-scale organized robbery involving violence and threats of violence.

Two of these individuals have also been charged with destruction and damage of property, the prosecution said.

A criminal case against a fourth person who was not detained in Finland remains with the State Police, as law enforcement authorities are still searching for the motor vehicle that was used in the heist.

Representatives of the prosecutor's office revealed that the foreigners had arrived in Latvia legally as tourists.

The prosecutor's office has no information about the whereabouts of the stolen watches.

As reported, Finland has extradited to Latvia three Serbian nationals suspected of involvement in a robbery at the Riga Old Town watch shop Baltic Watches last spring.

The three robbery suspects have been remanded in custody and placed in Riga Central Prison.

As a result of an international investigation, three of the four members of an organized group who stole about 80 watches from the store in Riga were detained in Finland last October.

On April 29, 2025, in broad daylight in the Old Town of Riga, the robbers stole 80 exclusive wristwatches in a matter of minutes by threatening store employees and a visitor with a firearm and using physical force and pepper spray. The store suffered damages amounting to about EUR 690,000.

After the robbery, the group ran through the streets of the Old Town and got into a vehicle with stolen license plates. The State Police launched a manhunt in parts of Latvia, but the robbers managed to escape.

Through international cooperation, law enforcement officers established that the robbery was committed by four young men from Serbia, under the age of 30. Continued cooperation with other European countries and a series of operational and investigative actions led to the exact location of the wanted men, and in October 2025 three members of the organized group were arrested in Finland, while the fourth member is still at large.

The arrested individuals in Finland were already preparing to commit another robbery in a similar way as in Latvia, for which criminal proceedings have also been initiated. Finnish law enforcement officials detained the individuals in preparation for their next crime.

The fourth robber involved in the heist has been placed on the international list of wanted criminals.

The search for the stolen watches is also ongoing.