Five robbers have been jailed for a total of almost 25 years after an incident in 2017.

The group were jailed for their part in a robbery that took place at 8:38pm on September 18, 2017, at Hay Lane, Edgware, where the group burst into the shop and threatened two shop assistants.

Money from the cash register was stolen by two of the members, alongside £600 worth of cigarettes and alcohol, while other members held the shop assistants at knife-point.

Two 18-year-old Edgware residents, Salman Osman of Five Acre and Adnaan Yusuf of Highmeadow Crescent, were sentenced for four and a half years for robbery and 12 months for possessing two bladed articles, alongside Stanmore resident Abdillahi Isse, aged 18, from Sandymount Avenue.

Accomplices Akram Oumar, aged 21, and Amjad Oumar, aged 19, both from Argyle Road, North Harrow, will be serving five and a half years for robbery and 12 months for possession of a bladed article.

The five robbers were sentenced on Thursday (August 8) at Harrow Crown Court. They will serve a combined 24 and a half years in prison.

Detective Constable James Robb, of North West CID, said: “Despite the robbery taking place in 2017, the outcome in court demonstrates we will relentlessly pursue suspects who commit violent offences and ensure that they are put before the courts.

“There is no place in society for this behaviour and those who commit such offences should expect to pay the consequences for their terrifying and destructive actions.”

Police were alerted of the incident by a member of the public who witnessed the group entering the store with masks on. A frightened shop assistant also alerted the police by hitting the panic button as soon as the group left the store.

The group were apprehended by officers while they tried to flee the scene. Clothing and knives used during the incident were shortly recovered nearby in bins and down drains, two more knives used were found a few days later down a drain by a local resident.

All five members were unanimously found guilty by a jury at Harrow Crown Court on June 27, 2019.