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FAMILY FRAUDSTERS UNCOVERED IN STANMORE

 Published on: 18th March 2014   |   By: The Newsdesk   |   Category:

The head of an Afghan family of crooks made millions of pounds selling stolen BMWs and JCB machinery to the Middle East while claiming benefits, a court heard. Ali Ghesami, 79, was the ‘driving force’ behind the operation which saw luxury cars and industrial plant thieved from driveways and building sites across the South East. The vehicles were sold to a company in Dubai called Al Mustaqeem but they simply vanished after they were shipped to Sharjah port. Behroz Sayed, 34, of Ruth Close, Stanmore, together with his brother, Ali, 22, sisters Krezhal, 24, and Nijia, 30, and her ex-partner Sayed Majub, 38, have all been jailed for their part in the conspiracy last September. The highly lucrative scam ran for five years until detectives seized £450,000 worth of stolen cars stores inside containers and arrested five family members. Linda Strudwick, prosecuting, said: ‘There is no dispute that this was a family conspiracy as you have heard the other five either pleaded guilty to it or were found guilty. ‘To give you an idea of this operation, they spent over £120,000 on freight shipping. If you spend that money on freight shipping you must be earning considerably more. One instance was an expensive BMW that was put down as an engine,” she said. “In respect of Mr Ghesami, his defence is ‘I didn’t know anything about this conspiracy and in any event I wasn’t involved – I didn’t participate in it’. He originates from Afghanistan and during the period of the indictment 2008 – 2010, he wasn’t working, he was claiming benefits. Jurors heard that members of the family held bank accounts, one with over £700,000 deposited in it. But only around £900,000 worth of vehicles was ever recovered from the slick operation, it was said. Behroz Sayed, of Ruth Close, Stanmore, Nijia Sayed, of Phoenix Apartments, Lower High Street, Watford, Herts and Sayed Majub, of the same address, admitted conspiring to conceal or transfer criminal property and conspiring to be concerned in the acquisition of criminal property. Ali Sayed, of Ruth Close, denied the same charges but was convicted after a trial. Last September Behroz Sayed was sentenced to five years in prison, while Majub was jailed for four years. Ali Sayed was locked up for two-and-a-half years while Nijia Sayed, who played a lesser role, got 30 months. The trial continues. Read the full story in March’s My Stanmore News.  

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