A criminal gang, which ran a “professional and sophisticated” fraud scheme transporting lorry loads of stolen goods worth over £500,000, has finally been brought to justice after a long-running investigation.
The Economic and Cyber Crime Unit (ECCU) of Greater Manchester Police launched the investigation in 2017 after a lorry carrying frozen chicken worth €75,000 was fraudulently bought using cloned company details and credit insurance.
The investigation uncovered a criminal network which stretched across Europe, stealing the deliveries of 13 companies.
The stolen goods, which included milk powder, olive oil, poultry, almonds, fruit syrup, electronics and meat, were distributed through local haulage yards, including that owned by Paul Barrett in Rochdale, and through wholesalers across Greater Manchester, particularly the now defunct Manchester Food Traders.
The Singhs and co-conspirator Zakaria Dean operated from Manchester Food Traders, while Mohammad Farid handled the transfer of goods at haulage yards, including one in Oldham, where he was arrested in December 2017.
The gang used cloned company identities and credit insurance fraud to scam a wide range of European suppliers before distributing the stolen items across the UK.
The court heard that the total estimated value funnelled through this firm was between £509,000 and £526,000.
Ringleader Devinder Singh from Swinton was sentenced to six years and six months in jail. Zakaria Dean was given a two-year and nine-month sentence.
Mohammad Farid received a two-year suspended sentence plus 20 days rehabilitation, while Lakhvinder Singh was jailed for nine months for breaching company director bans.
Paul Barrett of Norfolk (formerly Rossendale) admitted being involved in an arrangement to facilitate the acquisition or retention of criminal property, which in this case was some of the lorry loads of goods, before the trial started and was given a suspended 18-month sentence and 100 hours of unpaid work.
During sentencing, Devinder Singh’s offending was described as “professional and sophisticated”.
Detective Constable Nicola Veitch Lancaster of ECCU, said: “A warrant was conducted at Manchester Food Traders and part of one of the deliveries was recovered.
“The investigation determined that Devinder [Peter] Singh and Lakhvinder [Tiggy] Singh were in charge of the business and oversaw the day-to-day running.
“Zakaria Dean - aka Waheed Rahman - was employed and responsible for sales.
“All denied knowing that the goods were stolen, yet the company had arranged for the goods to be collected from the haulage yards and transported to their premises, often in inappropriate and unrefrigerated lorries.
“They claimed they believed they had purchased the goods in good faith at a good price and did not know they were stolen.
“However, mobile phone analysis showed that on occasions the produce was being advertised for sale by Manchester Food Traders at prices lower than the goods were worth when purchased direct from the supplier.
“This was a long and thorough investigation that has seen the perpetrators finally brought to justice.”
