Gang stole luxury cars for years

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson's £50,000 BMW was stolen by the gang

A multi-million pound car ringing gang spent years stealing luxury cars from the wealthy, a court has heard.

The gang scoured affluent areas of London with a shopping list of costly vehicles, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Gang leader Imran Ganchi from Ilford, east London, pleaded guilty to various conspiracies involving car thefts and money laundering.

Among their victims was socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson whose BMW 645 convertible worth £50,000 was stolen.

Her car, later found at Birmingham airport, was one of just six of the 34 stolen by the gang which were recovered.

Master forger

The others remain with unidentified new owners, most of whom are believed to have paid near market value for them.

The stolen cars included Porsches, Mercedes, Range Rovers and Toyota Land Cruisers.

They were then given new identities by a "master forger" before being shipped abroad - mainly to the United Arab Emirates - via Maastricht in Holland and Antwerp in Belgium.

Also in the dock were Shazad Hussain, 31, of Springford Road, Moseley, Birmingham; Shakeel Shoukat, 21, of Central Park Road, Forest Gate, east London; forger Hameed Nawaz, 31, of Ivy Road, Luton, Bedforshire; and Kaduji, of Jephson Road, Forest Gate.

They have pleaded guilty to a number of conspiracies involving both car thefts and money laundering between 1 June 2003 and 1 January this year.

The judge is expected to sentence the gang next Friday.