Gang moped robbers targeted 17 mobile phone shops

Alfie Kennedy, 20, (pictured) admitted his role in the conspiracy 

A gang of hammer and gun-weilding moped robbers targeted seventeen mobile phone shops and made off with nearly £1million worth of handsets, a court heard.  

The raiders allegedly grabbed phones, computers and caused damage worth nearly £1m using hammers, knives, a battering ram and even brandished a gun.

They attacked Three Mobile outlets several times in the early hours of the morning to grab the latest handsets after they looted the stock room, jurors heard.

But the gang was foiled after an exhaustive Met Police operation called Operation Vocare finally stopped them in their tracks, Blackfriars Crown Court heard.

Courtney White, 22, Mominur Rahman, 22, Mohammed Hussain, 24, Chang Mabiala, 22, all deny conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary and conspiracy to rob.

Youssef Kassoini, 46, denies handling stolen goods.

Prosecutor Michael Shaw said the defendants were members of a gang ‘engaged in a series of robberies and aggravated burglaries’ carried out between 1 May and 27 November last year.

‘They were all at mobile phone shops using their mopeds and they would attack the guards with hammers.

He said: ‘They would attack in the middle of the night – they would ride up and smash their way in – primarily shops from the Three network.

Adam Atallah (left) and Dylan Castano-Lopez (right) have already admitted their part in the conspiracy 

‘They would loot the stock room and then ride off.

‘They committed 17 of these attacks in the summer of last year.

‘The damage, and the total value of the phones they took comes close to £1m.’

White was ‘the organiser of most of these attacks’ while his ‘right-hand’ man was Rahman, said Mr Shaw.

‘Courtney White is one of the ring leaders,’ the prosecutor said. ‘Look, he is shaking his head – we will see what you come to think about that.

‘They made mistakes and left traces – the police officer investigating them has found those links which points to their involvement.’

Operation Vocare was set up to combat organised criminal networks in the wake of a surge in moped-enabled crime across the capital.

The prosecutor continued: ‘Offences like these takes planning – someone has got to get them together at the right place at the right time.

‘Someone has got to bring the battering ram – someone has got to organise the mopeds and someone has got to be available back at base.’

Mr Shaw told the jury of eight women and four men that other ‘gang members’ have already admitted guilt or been convicted in relation to the alleged conspiracy.

Mr Shaw said he was not going to show the jury all of the CCTV from the raids on the first day of trial, but he wanted them to understand how operated.

The first raid at the Walthamstow store took place at around 5am on 1 May last year and involved four burglars using two mopeds.

Jurors heard that two of the gang were seen smashing though the front window, wearing black clothes and crash helmets

Inside the stock room the door was smashed off its hinges before the gang made their escape from the three-minute raid.

‘You will see the links, you will see the patterns, you will see the way that they attack the guards,’ Mr Shaw said.

Jurors heard gang members dressed in black in a bid to avoid detection.

But White was caught out by a distinctive mark on his helmet.

The prosecutor added: ‘They would all turn up on mopeds and smash their way in.

‘They would all wear a uniform, generally black and crash helmets.

‘They would all wear black jackets, black trousers if they could because they had obviously thought about it.’

White, of Higham Road, Tottenham, Hussain, of Goulton Road, Hackney, and Mabiala of Union Square, Islington, deny conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary and conspiracy to rob.

Kassoini, of Hackney, denies handling stolen goods.

The trial, expected to last for weeks, continues.  

 

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