Car gang told to expect jail term

A gang who stole more than £1m worth of luxury cars from outside the homes of wealthy people have been warned to expect a jail term.

The five men scoured Kensington and Chelsea stealing Porsches, Mercedes and BMWs, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Shazad Hussain, of Springford Road, Birmingham, admitted conspiracies to steal and conceal proceeds of crime between June 2003 and January 2007.

He is the last member of the gang to plead guilty.

All five will be sentenced next month.

Expert forger

Altogether cars worth £1.34 million were exported, although investigators believe the bill would have soared to £2.25million had the gang not been caught.

Once the cars had been stolen, an expert forger recruited by the gang helped give the sought-after vehicles new identities.

Police discovered the "merchandise" was then shipped to customers in the United Arab Emirates via Maastricht in Holland and Antwerp in Belgium.

The others who have admitted their roles are Shakeel Shoukat, 20, of City View, Milford, Essex; forger Hameed Nawaz, 30, of Ivy Road, Luton, Bedfordshire; and Imran Ganchi, 29, and Yusef Kaduji, 21, both of no fixed address.