A group of fraudsters who formed part of a criminal gang that used a firm of solicitors to con high street banks out of almost £8 million have been jailed at Southwark Crown Court.

Judge Bellows handed prison sentences of five years to Khawar Khan , four years each to Imran and Nadeem Mirza and two years to Farhan Khan. All had pleaded guilty to numerous fraud related offences in December 2009.

The court had previously heard how the criminal gang identified suitable properties across the South-East to use for false mortgage applications- without ever approaching the owners.

At the same time Essex-based Montague Mason Solicitors submitted false paperwork in connection with 33 fraudulent mortgage applications.

The fraudulent mortgages were finalised when false paperwork was completed in the name of the solicitors, including the Certificates of Title requesting the banks release the funds.

Once the deals were signed-off and the funds transferred to the fraudsters quickly dispersed the stolen money from the solicitor’s accounts into a network of many hundreds of false bank accounts, controlled by the gang. However, it was these details that would lead the City of London Police to the defendants and the home of Imran Mirza, 31 and Nadeem Mirza, 26, in Ilford, Essex.

Searches of their house and properties in Nottingham and Barking led to the four men being arrested and the seizure of almost £100,000 in cash, gold ingots worth £43,000 and a host of false documentation.

Detective Inspector Perry Stokes from the City of London Police, who led the investigation, said: “This was a well planned and executed fraud which resulted in huge losses to the bank. The sentences&hellip send a clear message to organised criminal gangs who think that fraud is the business for them. If you are committing fraud