Police CCTV clue in hunt for killers of Omani student attacked near Harrods

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Detectives hunting the killers of an Omani student stabbed to death for his Rolex outside Harrods have released CCTV of two suspects.

Mohammed Abdullah Al Araimi, 20, and a friend were attacked as they walked home from a restaurant in Knightsbridge at about midnight on December 6.

Scotland Yard have offered a £20,000 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest and prosecution of those behind Mr Al Araimi’s “extremely violent” death.

Police said the friends were targeted in a “planned robbery” as they walked along Basil Street towards Sloane Street.

Omani national Mohammed Abdullah Al Araimi was knifed to death in Knightsbridge
PA

Mr Al Araimi tried to fight off his attackers, who had demanded his expensive watch, before he was knifed in the back, collapsing under a Christmas tree in Hans Crescent, near an entrance to Harrods.

His friend, also 20 and thought to be Bahraini, was treated in hospital for injuries.

Footage from 12.04am shows two men calmly walking and chatting.

CCTV appeal over the murder of Mohammed Al-Araimi
Metropolitan Police

The first suspect is Asian, aged in his late twenties to early thirties, about 5ft 10in tall, of medium build, with a full beard. He was wearing a dark hat, blue top, dark trousers and black footwear.

The second man is black, in his twenties, about 5ft 10in to 6ft tall, of medium build and has a thin beard.

He wore a green jacket with a hood, a baseball cap, blue jeans and black footwear.

Metropolitan Police

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Partridge said: “The suspects involved in the attack travelled on foot from the Edgware Road and Marble Arch area.

"This location is therefore potentially very significant, with the persons we are seeking to identify having a connection to this area.”

Police have so far made no arrests. King’s College politics and economics student Mr Al Araimi was the son of an Anglophile sheikh who founded one of the Middle East’s biggest property empires.

Sheikh Abdullah Al Araimi’s Al Raid Group opened the £130 million Al Araimi Boulevard shopping centre in Muscat in 2018, which was modelled on Westfield London in Shepherd’s Bush.

Edward Hennessy

The family, said to be close to Oman’s ruling dynasty, reportedly spend much of the year in London and own a number of apartments in a block in Knightsbridge opposite Hyde Park.

Mr Al Araimi’s brother, Raid Al Araimi, said last month: “As a family we are all grieving at the loss of Mohammed. He only went out for a meal with a friend and never came home.

“If anyone knows who is responsible, or believes they know, please do the right thing and tell the police. We would not want another family to suffer like we are suffering.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the incident room on 020 8358 0300 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

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