Ex-employees threatened staff at Phones4U Putney with meat cleaver

Two men who carried out a robbery at the Putney 'Phones4U' store (since closed down), wearing burkas have been jailed for a combined total of 10 years.

The men, both ex-employees of 'Phones 4 U' had been under investigation by the store for alleged misconduct matters. Sabek had resigned two months before and Khan a month before they carried out the robbery.

27 year old Mohammed Sabek, of Grosvenor Road, Chiswick has been jailed for five years. And his colleague, 28 year old Aneel Khan, has also been jailed for five years. They were each convicted of one count of conspiracy to rob on Thursday, 16 October, following a trial at the same court.

CORRECTION (December 18th): We originally reported that Aneel Khan of Gloucester Road, Kingston upon Thames was the person jailed. Although he has the same name and age as the man convicted, the Aneel Khan who lives in Gloucester Road is a different person. We apologise to Mr Khan for this error, but point out that the information was taken from a Metropolitan Police press release with the incorrect address.

Mohammed Sabek

Aneel Khan

Detective Constable John Baldwin, from Wandsworth CID, said: "Both Sabek and Khan are now facing a long jail sentence because they thought by wearing clothing to conceal their face and body they could commit crime and not be caught. What both of them failed to realise is that the Met will use specialist teams and equipment to catch and prosecute those responsible for such acts.

"I hope that these sentences serve as a reminder to anybody thinking of committing serious crimes, that sooner or later they will be serving a lengthy custodial sentence."

The court heard how on 2 October 2012 at approximately 18:50hrs Sabek and Khan entered the 'Phones 4 U' store on Putney High Street, SW15 wearing burkas. They approached a sales assistant who was serving a customer at the time, threatened him with a meat cleaver and instructed him to close the front door. They then demanded to see the manager and requested the keys to the store room.

The sales assistant, customer and the manager of the store were then forced into a locked cage area in the basement where they were tied up. No one was injured during the robbery.

Sabek and Khan then loaded over £40,000 worth of phones, tablets, accessories and cash into suitcases. They threatened one of the victims to give a false statement to the police before stealing his ID card with his home address and left the store in a taxi back to Hounslow.

Officers from Wandsworth CID established that an earlier attempt to rob the same store had been planned two days before. On this occasion, Khan and Sabek decided not to go through with the robbery and they were caught on CCTV sitting inside a coffee shop with their disguises removed.

Following a lengthy and complex investigation, Sabek was arrested on Wednesday, 19 February. Khan was arrested the same day.