Bufordsecurity 
He earned nearly £500,000 in a terrifying moment when a masked armed robber put a gun to the head of a security guard delivering cash to a supermarket.
David Tesfaalem and Basil Abdul-Latif’s gang, wearing bulletproof vests and balaclavas, targeted cash transport deliveries to Santander, Nationwide, Sainsbury and Tesco branches.
Kingston Criminal Court has heard that workers were ambushed by men wielding loaded pistols, metal crowbars, axes and knives as they entered banks and shops in London, Oxford, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire. rice field.
In one robbery caught by CCTV, two attackers drove a security guard into an ATM bunker room at Sainsbury’s Local, grabbed the security guard by the neck and pressed a gun to his temple.
A former Gurkha employee was threatened with execution by thugs who started a countdown from 10 to 1 in fear on Barnes High Street in October 2018.
Separately, 27-year-old Brooklyn McFarlane and 29-year-old Maddie Hashi robbed a security guard’s head and torso in July of that year before taking away a cash cassette box from Tesco Extra on Staines Road, Feltham. I hit it repeatedly with a hammer.
Scotland Yard’s Flying Squad has launched an investigation into a series of related robberies under Operation Atoll.
Covert surveillance was carried out on at least 10 members of the mob who often congregated at Henry Prince’s house in Earlsfield, Wandsworth.
A stolen vehicle worth £243,000 was tracked using automatic license plate recognition cameras to analyze phone movements.
Tesfaalem, 30, and Abdul-Latif, 36, spent their loot on luxury cars, fine dining and designer clothes to impress their girlfriends. Large sums of money were laundered through fixed-odds terminals at betting houses.
But when his getaway car was seen on CCTV, Tesfaalem slipped during a nationwide raid on Tooting.
Clone plates were used in four-wheel drive vehicles, but painstaking investigations by detectives led to a Czech manufacturer that revealed location data from a SIM card embedded in the vehicle’s satellite navigation system. .
A few weeks later, after robbing £25,000 to be delivered to Santander next door to Nationwide, the gang set fire to clothes on an industrial estate in south London. However, in another misstep, it was caught by a hidden camera set up to catch a fly tipper.
Adam Salman, 32, was burned after trying to set a stolen Volvo on fire and doused himself with gasoline.
The seized mobile phone had a “raised” message saying that “it won’t be easy” if you face the Flying Squad or the Met Marksman.
Four men, McFarlane, Hashi, Abdi Omar, 27, and Noahman Amin, 26, were found guilty and convicted of their involvement in the robbery conspiracy on Monday.
Six others, Tesfalem, Basil Abdul Latif, Salman, Ibrahim Riyazi, 29, Ola Ollebaja, 36, and Ihab Shawi, 30, were sentenced to a total of 101 years in prison for their involvement in collusion at the hearing. It was handed down. .
Detective Constable Stephen O’Connell of the Mets Squadron said:
“It must have been terrifying for the victims. In Sainsbury, Barnes, Abdul Latif, 6’2″ and Ryazi, 6’7”, wore full-face balaclavas, bulletproof vests, and were robbed by security guards. robbed two former Gurkhas who worked as
“They were caught, had their helmets removed, and had guns pointed at their temples.
“A magazine was taken from the firearm to show the live ammunition and a countdown started at ten, and I intended to execute the first guard if the other guards had not opened the bunker.
“Then they discover that their crimes don’t pay off, and they end up spending time in prison instead, thanks to a complex investigative effort by the Flying Squad.
“Investigations will continue to pursue and bring to trial outstanding suspects believed to be involved in these crimes.”
Detective Superintendent Simon Moring of Central Specialist Crime added that it was “naive” to think the gang was convicted of all the attacks committed.
he said: But looking down the barrel or getting hit with a crowbar is not romantic. “
