Gang member's taxi used in Lancashire £500k car theft spree
Police handoutThieves who stole high performance cars, cash and jewellery worth more than £500,000 have been jailed.
Shujun Miah, of Blackburn, used his taxi to transport gang members Daniel Deens and Michael Gallagher, both 32 and of Merseyside, to intended targets.
They stole nine cars from properties in Lancashire and North Wales in 2019.
Miah, 34, and Gallagher were jailed for eight years at Preston Crown Court while Deens was sentenced to nine years and four months.
Taxi driver Miah, of Rawsthorne Avenue, and Gallagher, of Falkland Street in Birkenhead, denied their role in the plot but they were found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to commit burglaries and conspiracy to steal.
Deens, of Roughwood Drive in Liverpool, admitted conspiracy to commit burglaries and conspiracy to steal as well as further thefts before the trio's spate of thefts in February and March 2019.
'Misery and anxiety'
Lancashire Police said Miah used his private hire taxi to transport the trio to properties in Lancashire and North Wales where they stole vehicles including Audis and VW Golfs worth about £250,000 as well as cash and expensive jewellery.
The force said they targeted several other cars and properties, including two in one night, but were disturbed by burglar alarms.
They used specialised equipment to snap locks to break in to homes in order to steal car keys as well as using a technique known as "fishing" to hook keys through letterboxes.
Police said registration plates were then doctored on the stolen vehicles in an attempt to avoid detection.
Parts from a number of the stolen cars were discovered in Nelson and Merseyside but several of the stolen cars have never been recovered.
PC Sam Patel said the trio's "pre-medicated crime spree" caused "misery and anxiety for all the victims".
"This gang have broken into people's homes during the night, at a time when victims are asleep in bed and vulnerable, often with children in the house," he said.
"Many of the high value motor vehicles stolen have never been recovered resulting in huge financial losses."
