Jailed: Criminal gang who made £1 million out of 'crash for cash' insurance scams

Ringleader: Mohammed Zubair Jamil, 35
Metropolitan Police
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A criminal gang who made more than £1 million by staging car crashes for insurance payouts have been jailed for a total of nearly 30 years.

The 19-strong “crash-for-cash” group put innocent motorists in peril with a string of pre-planned collisions stretching across five years between 2009 and 2014.

In the scam, one car would deliberately brake hard so his accomplice would run into the back of his vehicle, while ensuring an innocent motorist witnessed the crash and could confirm details to the insurance companies.

The gang then claimed money for car repairs, hire vehicles, and substantial compensation for injuries they said were sustained by drivers and passengers.

The scam unravelled when ringleader Mohammed Zubair Jamil, 35, was involved in a crash in December 2012, braking sharply to cause a three car pile-up before driving away.

Detectives probed Jamil’s businesses, SAS Accident Management and Watford-based SAS Car Hire, and found records linking him and his associates to £1.1 million of crash-for-cash claims.

Jailed: (From left) Mikolaj Parczewski, Maria Aftewicz, Rafal Parczewski, Anna Olenczuk, Emrah Yildiz and Jadwiga Pawloska
Metropolitan Police

The gang were convicted after three fraud trials at Harrow crown court, with the last five defendants being sentenced on Thursday December 15.

Detective Inspector David Hindmarsh, of the Met’s Roads and Transport Policing Command, said: “This was an audacious, criminal act, carried out by unscrupulous people whose sole aim was to line their pockets at the expense of their victims.

“They did not care whatsoever that their reckless acts endangered the lives of innocent people.”

Mohammed Zubair Jamil, 35, of Gimaldi Avenue, Luton, was sentenced to five years in prison.

Ali Malik, 22, of no fixed address and is on the run, was jailed for four-and-a-half years in his absence.

Rafal Parczewski, 41, and Daniel Zakrzewski, 31, both of Owen Way, Neasden, were sentenced to 22 months in prison, while Nazema Nawaz, 28, of Broad Mead, Luton, was jailed for 20 months.

Raheel Akhtar, 37, of Park Street, St Albans, Mohammad Ashan, 32, of Highbury Road, Luton, Mazher Iqbal, 44, of Hollings Road, Bradford, Mohammed Nisar, 49, of Trent Road, Luton, Gulraiz Fazal, 36, of Highfield Road, Luton, Mikolaj Parczewski, 25, of Owen Way, Neasden, Mirosla Lewandowski, 60, and Jadwiga Pawloska, 63, both of Harrold Road, Rowley Regis, in the West Midlands, Barbara Aftewicz, 48, of Villiers Road, Willesden Green, Suat Mazi, 40, of High Street, Enfield, and Emrah Yildiz, 28, of Fellowes Court, Weymouth Terrace, E2 were all sentenced to 16 months in prison.

Maria Aftewicz, 27, of Fortune Gate, Harlesden, and Anna Olenczuk, 47, of Quainton Street, Neasden, were both given 16 month suspended jail sentences and 150 hours of community service.

Shuel Miah, 25, of Park Street, St Albans, was handed an eight month suspended prison sentence, with 200 hours of community service and ordered to pay £2,320 in compensation.

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