A gang of forgers who manufactured credit cards from a small run-down flat – spending hundreds of thousands of pounds in an international spending-spree – have been locked up.
Genuine card holders in the United States were targeted by the Lithuanian gang who forged hundreds of cards used in their home country plus Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.
The unlikely hub of the operation was a one-bedroom flat overlooking the busy A40 dual carriageway in West London, which enabled the fraudsters to buy top of the line cars, electrical goods and designer clothes.
The gang are: Lithuanian-born Alan Judys, 43, (pic.l) of Central Parade, Perivale; Iranian-born Ryad Mazen Al Hadley, 40, (pic.mid) of Preston Road, Wembley, Middlesex and Lithuanian-born Vytaras Nemcinskas, 31, (pic.r) of Kingsbridge Road, Southall, Middlesex.
The gang was caught following an intelligence-led operation by officers from the Metropolitan Police Service's Operation Maxim and they all pleaded guilty at Croydon Crown Court.
On November 17, last year police raided their addresses in West London, including Judys – the nerve centre of the operation – where officers seized colour printers, hot foil presses and embossers.
Searches of the other two addresses also uncovered a vast array of forged bankcards, forgery equipment, printers, embossing machines, hundreds of blank cards and cards in various states of manufacture into bank cards.
They also found hundreds of forged Lithuanian driving licences used to verify the false cards during transactions.
At the Wembley address, officers found wardrobes filled with Gucci clothing as well as wide screen televisions and a Mercedes car parked in the driveway.
All of the goods had been bought with the proceeds of the gang's criminal activity.
Judys and Al Hadley received four years each and Nemcinskas eight months.
Detective Inspector Clive Strong said:” Following a detailed and meticulous proactive operation an international criminal network has been thwarted.
"Their criminal activities have been brought to a halt preventing them from defrauding hundreds of thousands of pounds more.
"This sends a strong message that those who come to the UK to commit crime will be apprehended and brought to justice."
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