A gang which stole over £300,000 carrying out “sophisticated” cash-in-transit robberies armed with sledgehammers and knives has been jailed for 84 years.

The gang’s six members, four of whom were from Croydon, terrorised banks, supermarkets and petrol stations in a series of violent smash-and-grab raids across south London.

They left a guard at a Petts Wood bank seriously injured after repeatedly hitting him in the head with a hammer during a robbery in November 2010.

During the raid the gang stole £30,000, which the guard had been delivering to the bank.

In December 2009, they stole £52,000 from a Purley Road supermarket, assaulting two guards with a hammer before escaping in a stolen car, later found burnt out.

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Honah Ibrahim, from South Norwood, was jailed for 20 years

Honar Ibrahim, 23, of Laws Close, South Norwood, and Carl Mensah, 23, of Thornton Road, Thornton Heath, were each jailed for 20 years on Monday after being found guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery at Inner London Crown Court.

Both had pleaded not guilty.

Mamsaihou Sowe, 24, of Fir Tree Gardens, Addington, was jailed for 13 years after admitting conspiracy to commit robbery

Donald Amartey, 22, of Hewitt Close, Addington, was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to robbery.

Saleem Mirza, 24, from Tooting was jailed for 12 years after admitting conspiring to rob and 24-year-old Kevin Seefah, from Bromley, was sentenced to 11 years after pleading guilty to robbery.

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Mamsaihou Sowe, from Addington, was jailed for 13 years

The gang stole over £339,000 during eight robberies before being arrested after a raid on a bank in Oxted on June 14, 2011 in which they smashed the building’s front doors and attacked guards with hammers before trying to flee with £20,000 in cash.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad linked the gang to seven other robberies, including a March 2011 raid on a bank in Carshalton in which they attacked two guards filling a cash machine and made off with £85,000 in notes.

Two months later, the gang struck at convenience store in South Croydon, where they robbed £12,000 from a guard at knifepoint.

In September 2010, the robbers tried to run over a security guard in a stolen car as they escaped with £75,000 from a convenience store cash machine.

The gang also targeted a bank in Chislehurst, where they stole £31,000 after attacking two guards with a sledgehammer, in December 2010 and struck at another in Coulsdon in March 2011, when they smashed their way into the bank but left empty-handed after guards wrestled the sledgehammer from them. 

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Donald Amartey, from Addington, was jailed for eight years

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Johnson, who headed the investigation – codenamed Espeon – into the gang, said: "This was a highly organised gang, who planned their robberies with a sophisticated level of detail carrying out very thorough surveillance.

“As part of their robberies they showed a brutal level of violence, attacking the guards with hammers, sledgehammers and knives.

"I would like to thank those guards who bravely recalled the violence they suffered as they gave evidence.

"This was an excellent result for the Flying Squad, who put the pieces of this investigation together, whose work has resulted in this gang being sentenced to 85 years in prison."

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Saleem Mirza (left) was jailed for 12 years and Kevin Seefah was sentenced to 11 years