(Image source from: Opinions)
Indian-Origin Guard Jailed In UK For Robbery:- A UK Court has sentenced an Indian-origin security guard and his accomplice for six years imprisonment for their role in a 7-million-pound staged robbery. The robbery was done by the duo from their own vehicles transporting cash.
The accused identified as Ranjeev Singh and fellow security guard Mohammad Siddique were jailed for conspiracy. The robbery was carried at Kingston Crown Court in south-west London on Wednesday. Both of them have been jailed for six-and-a-half years each. The duo claimed that after they stole 26 bags of cash on March 14 this year, they had been robbed to cover their tracks. The duo are employees of European cash handling company Loomis.
The “audacious” robbery involving cash took place near a cargo depot at Heathrow Airport. The incident was described in court as being similar to a Hollywood script that could be titled “iThe Heathrow Heist”. The cash belonged to Credit Suisse bank.
“You Siddique and Singh played your parts to perfection. You had been involved for a considerable period in the planning,” said Judge Stephen John during sentencing. Rafaqat Hussain, a third man was given 10 years and three months of imprisonment, for being the mastermind of the raid. The raid was termed as a “classic inside job”.
“You were an organiser, trying to keep your involvement at a distance. No doubt there were others in the plot as yet unidentified, but you were the principle, expecting a large slice of the proceeds and above Siddique and Singh in the hierarchy,” the judge told Hussain.
The court was told that Singh and Siddique reported their van missing, after driving from the depot.
Later, Siddique found bound by cables on a service road with the van abandoned and the cash missing. The service road falls near the M40 highway in Buckinghamshire. The phone records showed Siddique had been in contact with Hussain and Singh, although the two security guards pretended to be victims of a raid. The secret recordings made by a device planted by police in Hussain’s car caught him. In the recording, he admitted that he had all the cash and boasting that he could buy any car he wanted with it.
Earlier, one count of conspiracy to steal, was denied by both Singh and Siddique, but at the end of a trial, the jury found them guilty. Hussain had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal, money launder and commit burglary. The court was told he had arranged to buy a house in Buckinghamshire with the stolen cash. The mastermind’s barrister, Bairaj Bhatia, said he had “failed his family” by carrying out a crime, while the mastermind wept in the dock.
SUPRAJA
