Gang of six held ‘crash parties’ to smash cars before submitting false insurance claims

A Maida Hill “criminal mastermind” has been convicted of leading a group of fraudsters who made nearly �2million by smashing luxury cars and filing fake insurance claims.

Mohammed Samsul Haque, 26, of Lydford Road, led the group of six men who staged more than 120 fraudulent claims for accidents that never took place.

The gang staged ‘crashing parties’ at a business premises in Tottenham where they enjoyed food and drink before Haque directed the men to drive low value vehicles into high value cars including Mercedes, BMWs and Jaguars.

After each crash Haque and fellow defendant Rosul Yusuf would inspect the cars and cause more damage using baseball bats if they deemed the damage to be insufficient.

They would then submit false claims to insurers for services that weren’t provided such as recovery, storage and replacement vehicle hire.

Details of the fraud were heard at Southwark Crown Court where the men were found guilty on Wednesday.

The court heard the group set up three fake accident management companies between November 2005 and October 2008 as a front to hide their activities which saw insurance companies pay out �1.91million.

Typically they would obtain the low value cars from people they knew while the expensive vehicles were bought specifically for the purpose.

Courtesy cars were provided from the company’s own stock of high value vehicles at a charge of up to �350 a day to the insurance company.

Police raided the premises in October 2008 following a tip-off from an insurance company who had noticed irregularities in some of the claims.

The gang of six are due to be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court in October.

Det Supt John Hollands said: “This scam has a knock-on effect on insurance companies who pass the cost on to the motorist. So the real victims of this crime are you and I - everyone who pays motor insurance in this country.

“A team of detectives worked on this case which has involved a great deal of painstaking work in piecing together a picture of how this organised criminal gang operated.

“They were devious characters who were perfectly prepared to exploit ordinary people to back up their claims and make their scheme work.”

Director of the Insurance Fraud Bureau Glen Marr warned insurance fraudsters that they are “deluded” if they think they won’t get caught.