Hamza's sons jailed for car scam

Three sons of jailed cleric Abu Hamza were jailed today for their involvement in a £1m luxury car scam.

Hamza's sons, Hamza Kamel, 22, and Mohamed Mostafa, 27, helped run the two-year fraud with the cleric's stepson Mohssin Ghailam, 28, Southwark Crown Court has heard.

Judge Gregory Stone QC, sentencing seven men for their involvement in the case, said it involved "serious criminality" and he had no alternative but to jail them all.

He said Kamel, of Acton, west London had pleaded guilty to counts of dishonest handling of stolen cars and money laundering, and would go to prison for two and a half years.

Mostafa, also of Acton, had pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud, which involved the use of a false French passport and a utility bill, and would go to prison for two years.

Ghailam had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and was described as a "key player". He was jailed for four years.

The court heard that the plotters exploited a loophole in the vehicle registration system to target expensive makes of car including Mercedes, BMW and Range Rover which had been left in long-stay car parks.

Pretending the vehicles were theirs, they tricked the DVLA into transferring ownership to an alias and sending new log books to front addresses.

Keys were then obtained from dealers and the cars stolen, before being sold to unsuspecting buyers or used as collateral to take out loans which were never repaid.

The court heard the men were arrested on 5 November, 2008, following a Met Police investigation into the organised theft and resale of luxury cars in London.

The prosecution said officers identified 32 vehicles which were either stolen, targeted for theft or used as collateral to obtain loans fraudulently. A number had been taken abroad and sold.

The value of the vehicles if they had been sold as new would have exceeded £1m.

The court heard the gang would pick out cars left in long-stay car parks and apply to the DVLA to change the address.

If the DVLA did not receive a reply from the original address within 14 days a new log book would be sent out.

Knowing the legitimate owners were away, the defendants would then inform the DVLA the name of the registered keeper had also changed, enabling them to obtain keys for the vehicle.

The judge told the seven: "You were all involved to a greater or lesser degree in this criminal enterprise, involving the theft and resale of high value motorcars in London.

"The prosecution describes this criminality as a sophisticated, well planned and professionally executed operation, and I agree with that description.

"This is a bad case, and the criminality is considerably more sophisticated and organised than the usual car ringing case.

"Offences such as this cause serious loss and serious inconvenience to the victims of the crime.

"This was serious criminality, and I have no alternative but to send each of you to prison."

He said the defendants all pleaded guilty at the first practical opportunity, and they had received credit for that, as for the fact that they had been in custody for 202 days.

Mohammed Chiadmi, 31, another "key player", received four years, his brother Abdul Chiadmi, 22, said to have played an "important role" received four years, Khalid Jebari, 22, the operation's driver, received two years on handling counts plus two years for possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply, making a total of four years, and Hamza Mrimou, 27, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud, got three and a half years.

Abu Hamza, 50, who preached at a London mosque, was jailed for seven years in 2004 for soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred.

He now faces extradition to the US for allegedly setting up an al-Qa'ida training camp.

Last year another of his seven sons, Yasser Mostafa Kamel, 18, narrowly escaped jail after admitting burglary.