Three men get combined sentence of just under 16 years for fake gun heist and theft of £35,000 in handsets and cash at T-Mobile store in Peckham Three men have been handed jail terms totalling just under 16 years after stealing £35,000 of cash and goods during an armed robbery at a T-Mobile store in Peckham last year.
The gang, which carried out the attack in July 2010, was this month found guilty at Inner London Crown Court in Southwark.
The leader of the group, Ismail Farouk Abbas 26 (pictured right), was found guilty of using an imitation firearm to carry out the robbery at the store in Rye Lane, Peckham, on July 4, 2010. £4,500 in cash and 72 BlackBerry handsets with a value of up to £30,000 were taken.
The Metropolitan Police said Abbas, who was sentenced to six years on Friday 13, tried to pass himself off as a role model, having set up a clothing line called ‘Forreduci’. He had also tried to link himself to Manchester United footballer Rio Ferdinand’s charity Live the Dream.
Abbas also received an additional five-year sentence after stealing £25,000 from a security van at a Texaco garage in Streatham three weeks later. Abbas, along with two other men, were said to have attacked the guards with hammers.
Senior investigating officer detective inspector Lee Hill of the London Crime Squad said: “We know that Abbas portrayed himself as a role model – for instance, he talked in a magazine interview about wanting to set up his own youth organisation.
“He also claimed during the trial that he worked with the Rio Ferdinand Live the Dream Foundation. Essentially it boiled down to the fact that he went to a black-tie dinner and offered to make 10 exclusive branded T-shirts for the foundation free of charge.
“When we contacted Live the Dream, they had never heard of him.
“The reality was, Abbas was a criminal who used his boasts to recruit others to do his dirty work, while he stood back and watched it all play out.”
Melvin Okeny, 20 (pictured right), and Patrick Asufu-Adjaye, 22 (pictured middle), described as Abbas’s henchmen, were also jailed for their part in the robbery, receiving five years and four-and-a-half years respectively.
Two other men, Mohammed Saleem, 30, and Thierry Baptiste, 27, were convicted in connection with handling the stolen BlackBerry handsets.
Saleem was sentenced to 180 hours of community service while Baptiste is due for sentencing on February 3 for assisting in the disposal of stolen goods.
Hill added: “This successful operation by the London Crime Squad demonstrates our commitment to deal with violent and organised crime in our communities. Officers involved in this investigation worked tirelessly to achieve this outcome.”
