Teenagers held machete to my head in terrifying five-hour carjacking in east London, says cabbie

Ordeal: Masood Zaman, who had recently undergone heart surgery, says he could have died
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A taxi driver today told of his terror as a young gang held a machete to his head during a five-hour carjacking rampage through east London.

The four youths, aged between 15 and 17, stole more than £1,000 in cash and mobile phones from the cab of 65-year-old Masood Zaman, who had recently had major heart surgery, in the attack on January 21.

Mr Zaman said: “They were tiny kids, they weren’t in masks or anything. I set off and they told me to stop, one of them grabbed me from behind and kept shouting, ‘Give me your keys.’

“Another got out and held this huge machete to my temple, I had never seen a knife so big. I thought about resisting but I had just recovered from heart bypass surgery. If they hit me with that knife even once I could have died.”

Earlier, at 6am that day, the teenagers had boarded Mohammed Rahman’s cab in East Ham. They demanded at knifepoint that he hand over his money, before stealing his car.

They used Mr Rahman’s Toyota Prius to tour the streets of east London, terrorising motorists. Mr Rahman lost his phone and satnav in the robbery and was left unable to work.

He said: “I was scared for my life. They slapped and punched me to the ground. Every day I think about it.” The boys also followed a woman in a Mercedes and boxed her in in a drive in Barking. She was threatened with a machete, but deterred the youths by sounding her horn.

The gang’s final victim, Mohammed Ahmed, had parked his BMW in a bus stop in Upton Park at about 11am.

He was threatened with a machete, which was held to his throat, before being forced out of the car. One of the gang then led police on a high-speed pursuit before he was captured.

Sentencing the youths, Judge Sheelagh Canavan said: “This must have been terrifying for everyone involved.”

The boys each admitted three counts of robbery, one count of attempted robbery and one of threatening a person with a bladed article. One boy admitted driving offences. A 17-year-old and the 16-year-old were sentenced to 48 months in youth detention. The other 17-year-old and a 15-year-old were detained for 36 months each.

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