Images published showing members of the gang that terrorized cash trucks in London and across the UK sentenced to a total of 141 years in prison. This is the horrific moment masked gunmen hold a gun to the head of a security guard handing out cash. in raids on a supermarket that have raised almost £500,000.
The gang of David Tesfaalem and Basil Abdul-Latif, wearing bulletproof vests and
balaclavas, targeted cash deliveries en route to Santander, Nationwide, Sainsbury's and Tesco branches.
Workers were ambushed by men carrying loaded pistols, crowbars, metal, axes and knives as they entered banks and shops in London, Oxford, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, Kingston Crown Court heard. Assailants running inside grab him by the neck and put a gun to his temple.
The employee, a former Gurkha soldier, was threatened with execution by a thug who started counting from ten to one in the horror of Barnes High Street in October 2018.
Separately, Brooklyn McFarlane, 27, and Mahdi Hashi, 29, repeatedly hit a security guard in the head and torso with a hammer before he got away with a box of Tesco Extra cash boxes in Staines Road, Feltham, in July this year. Scotland Yard's Flying Squad began investigating a related series of robberies as part of Operation
Atoll.
At least ten members of the mob, who frequently congregated at the Henry Prince Estate in Earlsfield, Wandsworth, were under covert surveillance. A fleet of stolen cars worth £243,000 have been tracked using automatic number plate recognition cameras and their phone movements analyzed.
Tesfaalem, 30, and Abdul-Latif, 36, spent their swag on luxury cars, fine dining and designer clothes to impress their girlfriends. Fortunes were laundered at bookmakers via fixed-odds terminals.
But Tesfaalem made a mistake in a nationwide raid in Tooting when his getaway vehicle was seen on CCTV. Though the four-wheel-drive car had cloned number plates, a careful investigation by detectives led to its Czech manufacturer revealing location data from a SIM card embedded in the on board.
satellite navigation system. After stealing £25,000, which was handed over to the Santander side by Nationwide a few weeks later, the gang set fire to their clothes in an industrial area in south London.
But in another mistake, they were caught by hidden cameras set up to catch fly-tippers. Adam Salman, 32, suffered burns after dousing himself in petrol while attempting to set fire to a stolen Volvo.
On their confiscated phones, officers found "pumped" messages discussing that "it wasn't going to be easy if they were facing Flying Squad or Met gunmen." On Monday, four men: McFarlane, Hashi, Abdi Omar, 27 , Noaman Amin, 26, all Wandsworth, was convicted after being convicted for his role in the
robbery conspiracy. McFarlane, 27, was sentenced to a total of 13 years in prison.
Omar, Hashi and Amin were each sentenced to nine years in prison. Six others, Tesfaalem, Basil Abdul-Latif, Salman plus Ibrahim Lyazi, 29, Ola Orulebaja, 36, and Ihab Ashaoui, 30, were sentenced to a total of 101 years for their involvement in the conspiracy in hearings that can only now be reported sentenced to imprisonment.
Detective Constable Stephen O'Connell of the Met's Flying Squad said: "The group wreaked havoc in and around London." the victims. At Sainsbury's in Barnes, 6ft
2in Abdul-Latif and 6ft 7 Lyazi, both wearing balaclavas and bulletproof vests, robbed two ex-Gurkas working as guards.
"They grabbed them, took off their helmets and put guns to their temples." From the bunker they wanted to execute the first guard. "These men have since discovered that crime doesn't pay and, thanks to the Flying Squad's intricate investigative work, they will be spending some time behind bars."
Investigations continue to follow and bring to justice high-profile suspects believed to be involved in these crimes. Detective Superintendent Simon Moring of Central Specialist Crime added that it would be "naïve" to think that the gang was convicted for every robbery committed.
He said: "In the 1970s there was the romantic notion of a bank robber. But there's nothing romantic about looking down the barrel of a gun or being hit by a crowbar.