Gang is jailed over £160k crime spree
A ROMANIAN crime gang stole more than £160,000 of items from Asda stores across the UK during the pandemic - including three in the North East.
Nicolea Ilea, 36, Alin Mahai, 27, Florin Costea, 51, Stefan Florin, 31, Marius Meiosu, 25, and Gabriel Mocanu, 36, travelled across the country stealing items from the supermarkets before selling them on.
The six defendants, who carried out the offences between April and September last year, have each been sentenced to 42 months behind bars.
Their crime spree began on April 29 last year, when Mahai and Ilie targeted the Asda Great Bridge Supercentre in Tipton, West Midlands.
Over the next four months Mocanu, Meiosu, Flori, and Costea joined the group. They went on to commit at least 81 offences as far afield as Alloa in Scotland and Cardiff in Wales.
In the North East, they struck at Newcastle, Cramlington and Middlesbrough.
On each occasion, the gang worked as a team to distract the store’s security staff.
They would intentionally activate the alarms, enabling other members of the group to escape the store with the stolen items without being spotted.
They specifically targeted items such as nappies, cosmetics, razor blades and printer cartridges, which they would then sell on.
The gang’s offending came to light after they stole approximately £1,000 of items from Asda Barons Quay store in Northwich in Cheshire in June.
Asda’s Asset Protection team contacted Cheshire Constabulary to report the incident, which they believed was part of a wider nationwide series.
Over the next two months detectives used CCTV footage, ANPR camera’s and credit card data to identify the gang members and link them to at least 80 other incidents.
After the detectives had gathered extensive evidence, an address was raided in Oldham, Greater Manchester.
Officers recovered a number of stolen items including perfume, alcohol, more than 50 razors and thousands of children’s nappies.
They also seized three cars the gang had been using.
Meiosu, Costea and Mocanu were all arrested on September 10 last year. Over the following months, Ilea, Florin and Mahai were also taken into custody.
All six men were charged with conspiracy to steal, which they admitted in court.
On Tuesday, they were sentenced to 42 months in prison at Chester Crown Court in Chester.
Following their sentencing, Detective Constable Paul Matchett, of the Northwich Beat Initiative Team, said: “It is clear that this gang travelled to the UK with the sole intention of committing crime.
“They believed that they could evade justice by spreading their crimes across the country.
“While their plan worked initially, they underestimated the partnership work between the police and the business community.”