A VIOLENT gang who robbed London jewellery shops and buried their loot in the hope police would not trace them have been jailed for a combined total of 82 years.
The ten members of the Romanian gang were sentenced at the Old Bailey on March 28 for stealing more than £1 million worth of jewellery in seven raids carried out over a period of six months.
The crooks had been using waste ground next to the A12 in Romford as a base for their hit-and-run raids, in which they often used sledgehammers to smash their way into jewellery cabinets before escaping.
The gang targeted Asian jewellers, stealing mostly 22 carat gold items and often escaping via nearby railway lines before hiding the loot in pre-dug holes.
Although an estimated £1,165,381.83 worth of goods was stolen, only some of this has been recovered.
The court heard how in the first attack a man claiming to be a customer rang the bell to enter a jewellery shop on Ealing Road, Wembley, on March 28, 2012.
As he gained entry he held the door open to allow nine males wearing hooded tops, scarves and balaclavas to enter.
Wielding hammers and axes they threatened staff and smashed display cabinets, filling bags with jewellery before setting the owner's car alight and fleeing.
As the gang fled with more than £500,000 worth of gold they began to discard their clothing.
The police were called and Romanian Alexandru Pavaluca, 23, was arrested and later convicted, receiving seven years and six months' in jail.
The rest of the gang escaped along a nearby railway line.
Eight days later, they raided a shop in High Road, Seven Kings.
All five men involved fled through pre-cut holes in a fence onto the railway line with more than £200,000 worth of items.
The gang then changed clothes before going back through the fence and onto the main road.
A police search unearthed the loot which had been hidden in trenches and covered by soil.
On August 25 they relieved a shop on Green Street, East Ham, of £300,000 worth of jewellery.
The gang were eventually arrested after a robbery on a jewellers on Turnpike Lane, Tottenham, on September 15.
Police officers, who had the gang under surveillance, moved in after the gang removed £64,000 worth of gold items, but not before an elderly customer was pushed to the floor by one of the gang members.
Detective Chief Inspector Ian Corner said: "I hope these convictions demonstrate our commitment to pursue those who intend on committing offences such as these."
The sentences are as follows:
Puit Danut Paunescu, 26, got seven years, three months
Vasile Alexandru Bataraga, 23, got nine years, four months
Iulian Roman, 21, got nine and a half years
Ioan Gavrilut, 26, got nine years, four months
Constantin Daniel Irina, 30, got eight years
Ovidiu Gabor, 25, got 7 years
Marius Andrei Barbu, 25, got nine years, four months
Gheorge Macovei, 23, got seven years
Iulian Culba, 22, sentenced to nine years four months
Catalin Paise, 19, got six years, nine months
