- Ali Ghasemi, 79, of Harrow, Middlesex, had been a mechanic and had his own business back home
- Judge spared him longer sentence because of age and health although also believed Ghasemi exaggerated his condition
- Only money in Ghasemi's building society account was benefits but family account held £700,000
- Family spent more than £120,000 on freight shipping to transport around 60 containers of stolen cargo to Dubai
- Scam lasted five years until police seized £450,000 worth of stolen cars stored inside containers and arrested five family members
Ali Ghasemi, 79, was jailed today for 3 years and 4 months for his part in a multimillion pound scam that resulted in luxury cars and plant equipment being stolen and sent to Dubai
The head of a family of refugees was jailed today for 40 months as the ‘driving force’ behind an £4.5million operation to steal luxury cars and diggers including JCBs and export them to the Middle East.
Ali Ghasemi, 79 and originally from Afghanistan, was living in sheltered accommodation and signing on during the time he masterminded the scam.
The cars and plant machinery were stolen from driveways and building sites across the southeast of England.
The vehicles, worth up to £50,000 each, were sold to a company in Dubai called Al Mustaqeem and vanished after they were shipped to Sharjah port.
The scam lasted five years until police seized £450,000 worth of stolen cars stored inside containers and arrested five family members.
The family spent more than £120,000 on freight shipping to transport around 60 containers of stolen cargo to Dubai, which boasts a booming construction industry.
Ghasemi was described as a ‘father figure’ to Behroz Sayed, 34, his brother, Ali Farad Sayed, 22, sisters Krezhal, 24, and Najia, 30, and her ex-boyfriend Sayed Majub, 38, who were earlier jailed for a total of 16 and a half years for their part in the conspiracy.
Ghasemi, of Harrow, Middlesex, who denied involvement in the plot, was found guilty of conspiring with others to conceal, disguise, transfer or remove property knowing that this was criminal property, namely stolen motor vehicles and stolen plant machinery by shipping them abroad, between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2012.
Judge Stephen Robbins sentenced him to 40 months’ imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court.
Stolen construction plant machinery like this recovered by police was stolen from driveways and building sites across the southeast of England
Another of the diggers recovered by police as part of an investigation into a £4.5m scam that saw machinery being stolen and sold to the Middle East
‘It is said you played a significant role in this conspiracy,’ he said.
‘You played your part, an essential part, in this very lucrative conspiracy in which many machines were put into containers and shipped overseas.’
The conman, who suffers from arthritis, was spared a longer sentence because of his age and health problems.
Judge Robbins added: ‘You have exaggerated or were lying about some of your symptoms however I do have regard for your medical infirmities.’
Ghasemi, of Harrow, Middlesex, was found guilty but spared a longer sentence because of his age and health problems although the judge thought that he was exaggerating their severity
Ali Ghasemi, also known as Javad Jan, had a working knowledge of plant machinery because he had been a mechanic and had his own business back in Afghanistan
Ghasemi used his experience in engineering and mechanics together with his connections in the United Arab Emirates to set up the scam, he said.
He came to the UK in the 1990s as an asylum seeker and claims his family were killed by the Taliban.
Ghasemi, also known as ‘Javad Jan’, had a working knowledge of plant machinery because he had been a mechanic and had his own business back in Afghanistan.
He spent a month in Dubai at the end of 2007, he was back for three months in 2008 and that was when Al Mustaqeem was set up.
Once he was back in the UK, he effectively directed and oversaw operations in this country.
Ghasemi was running the scam together with Behroz while younger members of the family did the leg-work, prosecutor Kerry Broome said.
‘He is effectively a step-father to the other defendants as he was close to their mother,’ she said.
The rules and regulations governing freight shipping meant that members of the conspiracy filled out the details of what was held in the shipping containers.
The family spent more than £120,000 on freight shipping to transport around 60 containers of stolen cargo to Dubai, which boasts a booming construction industry
The diggers like this JCB one were stolen and then put into crates before being shipped to the Middle East
Another of the industrial plant machines stolen by the Ghasemi gang and crated up ready to be sold in the Middle East
In one instance a luxury BMW 7 series was listed as ‘an engine’.
From 2008 until 2010, Ghasemi claimed benefits but a family account was found to hold £700,000.
The only payments going into his post office account were his benefits.
Only £900,000 worth of vehicles were ever recovered from the operation.
DC James Elliott, of the Metropolitan Police Force’s Plant and Agricultural National Intelligence Unit, said: ‘We believe that the vehicles had been stolen to order for clients in the UAE. Ghasemi and Sayed facilitated their export so that they could be sold on.
‘A financial investigation to establish how much they made from their criminal enterprise is ongoing. Documentation we seized indicates that hundreds of thousands of pounds has passed through the family’s accounts over the course of the conspiracy.’
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