Armed London gang raided cannabis grow

GROUP TRAVELLED TO CITY IN BID TO STEAL RIVALS’ DRUGS CROP

This has all the hallmarks of two organised crime groups having difficulty with each other Jeremy Janes

A MAN was beaten by armed gang members who travelled from London to Nottingham to steal a cannabis grow.

The ten-strong group – with possibly up to four others – headed to the city in four vehicles in the early hours of May 20 last year, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

The target of the trip was a house in Myrtle Avenue, Forest Fields, an unremarkable terraced home in a residential street.

Inside was a significant cannabis crop – the precise value unknown – but significant when video footage recorded the men taking the plants out of the property.

Jeremy Janes, prosecuting yesterday, said the grow was operated by an Albanian gang.

“This has all the hallmarks of two organised crime groups having some difficulty with each other and this group of defendants being organised, undoutedly by someone higher up the chain than these ten, making a point about cannabis being grown in Nottingham.”

The trip to the city was planned with the purpose of entering the property, dealing with who was inside and removing the cannabis and loading it into a VW van and taking it to London.

Weapons were inside the van – a mobile arsenal – and distributed once the convoy reached the area. Once the van, hired by Edmund Mackwar, was parked nearby, the back doors were opened and there was a congregation of defendants at the back being passed items from within.

Mr Janes said: “Some say this is the first time they saw the weapons being distributed.

“Having seen them being distributed, none of the defendants sought to distance from what was to take place.”

As the group walked up Myrtle Avenue, the driver of a BMW, which was part of the convoy, was Bilal Mohamed, 23, of Hughes Terrace, London, who parked up in Myrtle Avenue.

An Audi, driven by 28-yearold Henock Eskinder, of Oban Street, London, parked at end of Myrtle Avenue and he stayed in the car. A Vauxhall Vectra was parked out of sight of

CCTV nearby and was available as a second getaway vehicle.

Some went to the property’s door which was kicked off its hinges. The occupant came to the door and was attacked, including with weapons, but he got away.

Some of the defendants pursued hum, caught up and assaulted him – including with stamps and kicks. He got up and was dragged back to Myrtle Avenue and assaulted again before he ran off. He had a cut to his head, stab to the left shoulder and bruising.

The householder was dealt with separately for being concerned in the cultivation of cannabis and received nine months in prison.

Brothers Jedidia, 25, and Rex Kibambe, 27, both of no fixed address, were among those at the door and blood was found on their clothes and shoes.

As the occupant was being assaulted, CCTV showed what comes out of the house “looks like a modest Christmas tree of cannabis”, said Mr Janes. On a number of occasions more cannabis comes out.

As the cannabis raid was under way, nearby residents were looking out of their windows at 4am and captured what happened on mobile phones. Police were alerted and arrived, stopping the BMW and VW van from going anywhere.

University student Mohamed,

Mackwar, 31, of Court Wood Lane, Croydon, and Temi Peters, 23, of Sutherland Avenue, Welling, were caught.

Everyone else got away from Nottingham but only as far as the M1 in Northamptonshire where the Audi and Vauxhall were stopped and five further defendants were arrested.

Toryon David, 24, of Hardres Street, Ramsgate, and look-out Earl Coelho De Carvalho, 23, of Major Close, London, fled from Nottingham to London. They were traced after leaving wallets and phones at the scene. The defendants had varying roles but all pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary.

The sentences were:

■ Jedidia Kibambe: 7 years and three months

■ Rex Kibambe: 8 years and 5 months

■ Gaele Meya, 25, of Meister Close, Ilford: 6 years and 10 months

■ Henock Eskinder: 6 years and 7 months

■ Bilal Mohamed: 7 years and 5 months

■ Look-out Josh Dawson, 24, of Brisbane Street, London: 6 years and ten months

■ Temi Peters: 6 years and 7 months

■ Earl Coelho De Carvalho: 6 years

■ Look-out Toryon David: 6 years and 10 months

■ Edmund Mackwar will be sentenced at a later date