Cashpoint gang nabbed £100,000 then fled on the Tube

 

Cashpoint gang nabbed £100,000 then fled on the Tube

Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent
16.11.10

Robbers who dressed as workmen to steal almost £100,000 from security guards filling cash machines have been jailed for up to 12 years.

The gang struck three times late at night over two months in London, lying in wait near Abbey branches for the guards to arrive.
Three of the gang, in balaclavas, high-visibility jackets and work clothes, forced their way into the banks as the machines were being replenished between 11pm and midnight. They gave the impression they were armed and threatened the guards with violence, the Old Bailey heard.
One guard suffered a herniated disc after being grabbed and another was repeatedly punched and kicked.
The cash was stuffed into holdalls or suitcases and passed to Aziz Dohfi, dressed in ordinary clothing, who would calmly walk away to the Tube. None of the £98,700, stolen between October and December last year, has been recovered.
They targeted Abbey branches in Chiswick High Road and Cheapside, robbing the latter twice. Dohfi, 30, admitted his role in the conspiracy, along with Trevor Hawthorne, 21, and Kevin Arias-Rodriguez, 20. Gang leader Steven Fung, 42, who had been released from prison in 2006, was convicted by a jury. Other members of the gang remain at large.
The raiders would flee in Fung's car, which had false registration plates, to meet Dohfi, who was on foot, at a rendezvous point and hand him the cash. Dohfi was twice caught on CCTV fleeing through Bank Underground station in the City.
Fung, of Ealing, got 12 years; Dohfi, of Kennington, was jailed for seven years; Hawthorne, of Elephant and Castle, got five years, and Arias-Rodriguez, of Kennington, was jailed for three years after admitting he was involved in an aborted raid.
The judge, Mr Recorder Oliver Sells QC, told the four: “Force was used and threatened. Those delivering this cash were particularly vulnerable, late at night in empty streets, as they were performing their service for the public.”

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