Car crooks stole a £40,000 Toyota Prius in a quiet residential street with the chilling moment caught on CCTV.
Members of the gang – who pinched 74 vehicles in just seven months – have now been jailed for 18 years.
Most of the cars – worth £1.7 million – were pinched to order.
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Mohammed Gulzar Ahmed, Muhammed Imran Ali, Kabir Ahmed and Paul Barringer stole between two and three motors a week during that period.
Detectives trawled through CCTV and used forensic evidence to link the men to the crimes.
An investigation was launched in July last year when detectives linked 73 car thefts and one van theft across the capital.
They mainly targeted Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi, and Toyota models.
They used an electronic device – a key emulator – which could open the motors and start its engine without a physical key.
They also broke into several homes to steal the keys before taking the vehicles.
On 2 October last year, officers followed the men as they used a stolen car on false plates to drive around looking for more vehicles.
They witnessed the group steal a car from a residential street in Southwark before driving back towards east London.
Three of the men were stopped and arrested, as reported on Need To Know.
One of the thefts on 18 July last year, they stole a Toyota Prius was stolen from outside a home in Brockley, in Lewisham, south London.
They pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal motor vehicles and conspiracy to conceal criminal property.
They were sentenced at Snaresbrook crown court last Thursday (11 Sept).
Ali, 34, of Atherton Road, Forest Gate got five years and 10 months in prison.
Mohammed Ahmed, 30 of Bow Road, Tower Hamlets, was jailed for five years
Ahmed, 35, of High Street, Hornchurch, got four years and eight months’ imprisonment.
Barringer, 33 of Westminster Drive, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, was caged for two-and-a-half years.
Det Insp Damian Hill, who led the investigation from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “We know car theft has a significant impact on victims and across the Met we are focused on tackling it.
“Through targeted patrols and operations like this we have reduced vehicle offences by 18 per cent.
“This group has stolen dozens of cars and would have caused misery to the lives of many Londoners.
“By identifying and arresting these prolific offenders we prevented more people from becoming victims.”
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