Gang stole 144 cars in a year
The astonishing story of the criminals who masterminded a £6 million international car-theft ring can be told for the first time today.
Their haul included 85 Mercedes, 28 BMWs, a Maserati and two Porsches, netting ringleader Mohammed Ilyas £1.5 million within a year and earning the gang its nickname for the speed of its operations.
Ilyas, 43, from Ilford, who turned to crime when his legitimate car-parts business collapsed, hired Majid Ghouse and Mansha Khan, both 34, as fixers and Mohammed Dita, 34, and Naveed Parvez, 28, as drivers.
Once their operation began, car thieves across the country supplied them with stolen vehicles - some of them taken from their owners in terrifying gunpoint ordeals.
Their victims included City bankers, leading businessmen, a magistrate and a Chinese diplomat.
Within days of being stolen the cars would be in shipping containers and on their way to Dubai where they would then "disappear" before being sold on. They have since emerged in countries such as Pakistan, South Africa and Malaysia.
The gang first used a legitimate Ilford shipping company to send the stolen vehicles overseas after Ilyas claimed to be from a firm involved in the export of cars.
They went on to con a series of shipping agents into believing they were a legitimate firm.
The gang changed the cars' registration, usually using details from cars of a similar make.
It would cost them about £2,000 to pay the thief, change the plates and registration document and get the car shipped.
The police breakthrough came when the gang stuck with one shipping agent too long.
Officers were tipped off about a suspect delivery in the Manchester area and filmed Dita and Khan, both from Manchester, dropping off a stolen Mercedes and a BMW.
The five gang members all pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to handle stolen cars last month and are today expected to be jailed at a hearing in Manchester Crown Court.
Det Sgt Jim Gray, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "When we brought this gang down we saw a big drop in car thefts."
