Security guards involved in the £7million "Heathrow Heist" have been convicted after their web of lies was unravelled in court.
In one of the biggest crime plots in British history, 32-year-old Mohammad Siddique and 40-year-old Ranjeev Singh staged a fake robbery to steal from their own cash-in-transit van at Heathrow Airport .
The pair were found guilty of conspiracy to steal following a three-week trial at Kingston Crown Court on Thursday (October 5).
The former security guards worked for cash handling company Loomis, and drove a security van loaded with 26 bags of cash from the British Aiwarys cargo depot, on March 14 this year.
From the courts
The pair were caught as the result of an investigation by the Met’s Flying Squad.
CCTV footage showed that, shortly after the money was picked up at 8.30am, the van pulled over outside the security gates so Singh could take a toilet break.
The unauthorised stop was against the company's protocols as any such stop should be called into the control centre to allow closer monitoring of the van.
Siddique drove off on his own and, with the help of another man, unloaded the bags into a white transit van parked in West View, Feltham , where the security van was later found abandoned.
Meanwhile Singh waited inside the toilet for 20 minutes before raising the alarm with colleagues.
He claimed that he could not make any contact as he had left his own mobile phone in the van.
However the reality was if he had alerted his employers immediately the entire plot would have been foiled.
A total of 19 bags of cash totalling £7m were missing from the vehicle.
Siddique was found hours later, by a member of the public, his hands and ankles bound with cable ties and left on a service roads near the M40 in Buckinghamshire.
Both men were arrested after Singh's delay in alerting the control centre and Siddique's inconsistent account of what happened.
When questioned by police as a victim, Siddique said he had been contacted weeks before by an unknown man who threatened to burn his house down.
However prosecution presented mobile phone data, from a cell found on Singh, which revealed it had been used to call Siddique during the time the cash was stolen.
The phone analysis also revealed Rafaqat Hussain, 41, who previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal, had been in regular contact with Singh on the day of the theft.
Flying Squad detectives established Hussain had called a recovery driver at 9.24am on the day of the theft and the white Ford transit van had been taken to a nearby recycling centre where it was scrapped.
Hussain’s wife Razvana Zeib was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering after investigations revealed £900,000 had been transferred to a Pakistani bank account opened in her name.
Zeib, Hussain and another defendant, Gary Carrod, had organised for a house they wanted to buy with their share of the proceeds to be ransacked and burgled in an attempt to bring down the price.
Siddique of Belgrave Road, Slough and Singh, of Grampian Way, Slough were both found guilty of conspiracy to steal.
Rafaqat Hussain of Chadwick Road, Slough pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal, conspiracy to burgle and conspiracy to commit money laundering at Kingston Crown Court on Monday September 11.
Hussain's wife Razvana Zeib, 35, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle and conspiracy to commit money laundering at Kingston Crown Court on the same day.
Gary Carrod, 34 of Nursery Road, Taplow, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle at Kingston Crown Court on Monday September 11.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Bedford, of the Met’s Flying Squad, said: “Although this was an organised theft involving months of planning, it would not have been possible without the calculating and devious actions of Singh and Siddique who abused their positions to subvert the secure processes put in place to prevent this type of offence.
“The pair attempted to present themselves as victims of a robbery even going so far as arranging for Siddique to be tied up and left by a motorway to be found by innocent members of the public.
“However, a swift and thorough investigation by the Flying Squad uncovered their lies, led to their accomplices being identified and ensured their successful conviction at court.
“Both men are now likely to receive substantial custodial sentences reflecting their calculated abuse of their employer's trust and the value of the monies stolen.”
The money from Credit Suisse bank was bound for the Bank of Ireland.
Helen Shaw from the CPS added: "Ranjeev Singh, Mohammad Siddique and Rafaqat Hussain staged this theft to steal £7m which has still not been recovered, crafting a plan to make it appear that they were victims.
“Their elaborate plot quickly unravelled when inconsistencies in their story became apparent.
“The prosecution used interrogation of mobile phone records and CCTV evidence to highlight the lies they told police, leading to today's convictions."
They will all be sentenced Wednesday October 18.
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