Video footage of a group of fraudsters, who preyed on elderly Suffolk residents, being chased by police has been released.
Four members of a gang who targeted elderly victims, including some who were terminally ill or dementia, conning them out of hundreds of thousands of pounds, have been jailed for a total of 20 years and eight months.
Gloucestershire police released the video of the pursuit on social media, with Suffolk police saying in a tweet: "Great work from our colleagues in Gloucestershire to bring this gang to justice, who targeted victims across the country including Suffolk."
Mohammed Rahman, Muhammed Maarjan, Muhammed Hussain and Shoriful Islam were handed the sentences when they appeared at Bristol Crown Court on Friday.
Before their arrest in April last year, the gang had contacted hundreds of potential victims across the country, including Suffolk, by telephone.
Once they had found a victim, the offenders, pretending to be police officers, patiently relayed a convincingly disturbing tale of a fraud investigation that had identified counterfeit currency being transferred into their bank accounts.
They were encouraged to go and remove thousands of pounds from their accounts immediately in order to hand it over to a “courier” sent by “the police”.
In total, they conned at least 60 vulnerable victims out of more than £290,000, dating back to 2019, and attempted to contact many thousands more, making around 7,000 calls to potential victims between January and April 2021.
Following intensive work by officers across Gloucestershire police, a warrant was executed at a property in Theberton Street, London on April 6 last year.
When members of the gang tried to escape through an upstairs window, officers gave chase across the rooftops, eventually catching and arresting Hussain, Maarjan, Rahman and Islam.
Subsequent searches found cash, expensive designer clothing, Rolex watches, a Mercedes and an Audi, which were all seized by officers.
Rahman, 27, of Leirum Street, Islington, was sentenced to six years for conspiracy to commit fraud and two years for possessing criminal property, to run concurrently.
Islam, 24, of Highbury New Park, Islington, was sentenced to four years and eight months for conspiracy to commit fraud and two years for possessing criminal property, to run concurrently.
Hussain, 24, of Collier Street, Islington, was sentenced to five years and four months for conspiracy to commit fraud.
Maarjan, 23, of James Morgan Mews, Islington, was sentenced to four years and eight months for conspiracy to commit fraud and two years for possessing criminal property, to run concurrently.
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