Criminal gang caused £1million worth of damage by faking car accidents across UK to scam insurance companies

A 'CRASH FOR CASH' criminal gang of 19 men and women caused up to £1 million of damage by faking car accidents to scam insurance companies, it has been revealed.

A judge slammed the gang for putting lives at risk when they deliberately caused accidents with innocent motorists.

The 19 criminals from London, Yorkshire and the Midlands would drive two cars, one following the other, then suddenly brake the vehicle in front before driving away from the scene.

This gave the second car, driven by an accomplice, the opportunity to also brake, causing innocent motorists to plough into the back of them.

The car owner and the passengers would then make false personal injury claims as a result of the collision.

Mohammed Zubair Jamil, the company director for SAS Accident Management and SAS Car Hire, based in Watford, was found to be responsible for the organisation and execution of up to 300 induced collisions.

An investigation by the Metropolitan Police, mainly in north London, supported by the insurance industry and the Insurance Fraud Bureau, found that many of these were carried out by his associates who were either drivers or passengers in decoy cars.

As part of so-caled Operation Kernow, a telematics box was been installed in the 'lead' car, which provided data on the fake crash.

The data was analysed and interpreted by fraud investigation experts, APU Ltd, who gave evidence which was deemed so compelling in court that further prosecution witnesses were no longer required.

Jamil's records were seized, resulting in an investigation into collisions and insurance claims to the value of £1.1million.

Between September 2009 and August 2014, 13 crashes were investigated on the M1, M25 and the A406 in Redbridge, north east London.

Equity, 1st Central, Admiral, CO-OP, Ageas, Churchill, Aviva, and Axa Insurance were all targeted by the crooks.

Detective Inspector David Hindmarsh, of the Met's Roads and Transport Policing Command, said: "This was an audacious, criminal act, carried out by unscrupulous people whose sole aim was to line their pockets at the expense of their victims.

"They did not care whatsoever that their reckless acts endangered the lives of innocent people."

Four of the gang were sentenced last Thursday following a five-week trial at Harrow Crown Court, with the other gang members sentenced on May 20 and June 30 for 13 charges of conspiracy to defraud, fraud by false presentation and submitting fraudulent insurance claims.

Mohammed Zubair Jamil, 35, of Luton, was sentenced to five years imprisonment on each of the eight indictments to run concurrently at Harrow Crown Court in May.

Shuel Miah, 25, was sentenced to eight months imprisonment, suspended for two years with 200 hours unpaid work and £2,320 compensation.

Raheel Akhtar, 37, Mohammad Ashan, 32, Suat Mazi, 40, and Emrah Yildiz, 28, were also sentenced to 16 months in jail.

At the second trial on June 3, Rafal Parczewski, 41, and Daniel Zakrzewski, 31, were sentenced to 22 months in prison.

Mikolaj Parczewski, 25, Anna Olenczuk, 47, Barbara Aftewicz, 48, and Maria Aftewicz, 27, plus Mirosla Lewandowski, 60, and Jadwiga Pawloska, 63, were all sentenced to 16 months imprisonment for one charge of submitting false insurance claims.

Olenczuk and Aftewicz had their sentences suspended for two years and will have to do 150 hours of community service.

The third trial at the same court saw Ali Malik, 22, of no fixed address sentenced in his absence to four-and-a-half years in jail for each of the six charges to run concurrently.

A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Nazema Nawaz, 28, of Luton, was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment for each of the six indictments to run concurrently.

Meanwhile, Mazhar Iqbal, 44, of Bradford, West Yorkshire, plus Mohammed Nisar, 49, and Gulraiz Fazal, 36, both of Luton, were sentenced to 16 months in prison.

Judge Fiona Barrie said the gang did not care about the risk to innocent members of the public being serious injured during the collisions.

She said: "In short, this was well planned and carefully executed operation involving orchestrated collisions on public roads involving innocent members of the public.

"The idea that crash for cash frauds are victimless crimes has to be rebuffed immediately.

"The impact of this offending on the insurance industry is substantial and this in turn leads to routine increases in insurance premiums for the wider public.

Last month, a shocking Channel 5 documentary revealed the schemes of a group of taxi drivers working as "crash for cash" criminals.