Fake £185k robbery caught on camera
Page 3
AGANG who conspired to stage a ‘fake’ £185,000 armed robbery at a post office has been jailed for a total of more than ten years.
Rishton postmaster Mohammed Iqbal acted as the ‘inside man’ in the operation and allowed himself to be chloroformed and tied up by ‘armed men’ wearing ‘ CSI-style’ body suits in front of CCTV cameras, Burnley Crown Court heard.
Brothers Terry and Jason Yarwood – who donned boiler suit outfits complete with gloves, goggles and protective shoes – then made off with Iqbal’s car and £185,000 in cash, stamps and postal orders.
The gang enlisted the help of Avaiz Samad to act as getaway driver following the ‘carefully orchestrated and seemingly authentic’ robbery on June 5, 2015.
Iqbal, 33, Terry Yarwood, 36, and Jason Yarwood, 40, all of Preston, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal monies from Rishton post office.
Samad, 23, of Ashton-on-Ribble, Preston, was found guilty of the same charge after a trial, and Jason Yarwood also admitted a separate bail offence.
Iqbal and Terry Yarwood were jailed for two years and four months.
Jason Yarwood was jailed for two years and ten months, and Samad was jailed for three years.
Brian McKenna, prosecuting, told the court that Iqbal tried to claim he was a ‘genuine victim’ but that his repeated claims were ‘all lies and he was in fact the prime mover’ of the gang.
The court was told that he had the ‘requisite insider knowledge to carry out a staged robbery’ – and deliberately ordered an extra £95,000 to the post office ATM machine on the day.
Iqbal earlier in the day also travelled over to Preston to collect the Yarwood brothers and hid them in the post office garage until the time of the robbery.
The court heard how the gang was foiled after police analysed mobile phone calls.
Mr McKenna said Iqbal made 791 calls to Jason Yarwood in the weeks leading up to the robbery and they arranged for CCTV cameras at the post office to be disabled.
The court heard how a witness described Iqbal on June 5 as ‘exuberant and extremely chatty’, which was ‘very much out of character’ and after the incident was ‘agitated and pre-occupied’ with police and refused to give them his phone pin number.
Officers later recovered DNA from Jason Yarwood on the front passenger seat head rest of Iqbal’s Vauxhall Corsa and £12,000 from a safe at his home.
A proceeds of crime act hearing will be held at the court later this year.
Iqbal deliberately ordered an extra £95k to the post office ATM machine on the day