Jail terms for million pound postal thieves

5:06pm Monday 24th July 2006

TWO men who "brought misery to thousands" have been given eight years in prison for a million-pound postal fraud conspiracy.

Daniel Karim, 23, of Newmarket Avenue, Northolt, and his long-term accomplice Michael Wilson, 24, of Central Road, Wembley, admitted conspiracy to steal from the Royal Mail when they appeared at Isleworth Crown Court on June 26.

The unemployed pair robbed postmen doing their rounds, sometimes wearing Royal Mail jackets as disguise.

Detectives believe Karim and Wilson were responsible for more than 40 different thefts, becoming skilled at identifying and stealing packages and letters from postbags containing chequebooks, credit and debit cards and bills which could be used for fraud.

Sometimes an entire sack was taken.

Police said a network of people were used to launder the money. They would cash stolen cheques in legitimate bank accounts and help the west London pair setting up telephone and internet banking and online shopping scams, in return for a cut of the money.

Karim and Wilson also used stolen passports and utility bills to set up false bank accounts in which more money could be hidden and cashed.

The fraudsters spent their loot on designer clothes and fancy electrical items, said police.

Postmen who did challenge the two were threatened with being stabbed, shot or being run over.

On December 1, 2004, at Harrow View, Harrow, a postman confronted the pair demanding his bags back. Clinging to the windscreen of the getaway car he was carried along on the bonnet for 200 metres before the stolen bags were thrown out.

An X- reg VW Golf was normally used but its blacked-out windows meant witnesses often failed to get a good description.

They used 13 different names to avoid being traced and in one year had built up a business empire with the help of criminal contacts.

Camera mobile phones were used to send photos of credit cards and bills to others to allow fraud to be carried out.

A bungled theft of a woman in South Harrow eventually led to their arrest and charge, following a raid on Karim's Northolt flat where stolen chequebooks and thousands of pounds were found.

Detective Superintendent David Hewitson, formerly of Harrow police, said: "These two are devious, greedy and arrogant individuals. The postmen and women who confronted Wilson and Karim were threatened with violence and must have been terrified.

"They brought misery to literally thousands of members of the public who were affected by having their post stolen and identities taken over."