Two jailed for credit card scam

Two members of a London crime gang who visited Cork city for a weekend credit card scam were jailed for five years today.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said: “I believe you were caught red-handed as a result of good professional police work. The level of criminality was high.

"This was organised, determined, trans-national fraud. The chances of rehabilitation are somewhere between slim and zero.

“These men were on a seriously determined, professionally organised escapade. Both defendants have previous convictions for similar type of offences. There was no plea of guilty and there is no remorse. The State case against them here was forensically examined and stress-tested and notwithstanding that, the jury brought in unanimous guilty verdicts.”

The sentences imposed on Mohammed Khaleed, aged 25, of 40 Gilbey’s Yard, London, Mohammed Majid, aged 37, of 15 Jones Road, London, were back-dated to June 3 as they have been in custody since that time.

As the previous English convictions of the men were being outlined, it emerged that Khaleed has operated under 12 aliases.

Detective Sergeant Declan O’Sullivan said the gardai believed that they came to Ireland with the deliberate intention of withdrawing cash from English people’s accounts.

“Before this operation was shut down, approximately €25,000 was stolen. Coming here on a bank holiday weekend gave them an extra day before the banks opened on Tuesday. It was a deliberate attempt to steal large amounts of cash. It is believed they were in the process of making a large number of counterfeit credit cards and were caught red-handed,” he said.

The crime was detected at 28 Elmvale Avenue, Wilton, Cork, on June 3. A jury found them guilty yesterday on all 16 counts against them.