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Two brothers who entered a Heald Green post office disguised in Royal Mail waistcoats and stole £280,000 have been jailed for their role in a ‘sham robbery’.
Rakib Shah, 26, and Aksar Shah, 29, went into the post office and convenience store on Finney Lane at 1pm on Saturday, December 17 last year, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Once inside the pair, both of Denewell Avenue, Ardwick, demanded any cash to be handed over and a shop assistant, one of two staff members at the post office at the time, opened the safe.
Both staff members’ hands were then tied with cables but one managed to escape and went to a neighbouring business where they raised the alarm.
By then the brothers had wheeled out cash, stamps, scratch cards and foreign currency to the value of £280,000 on a black trolley and fled in Rakib Shah’s car. The money has never been recovered.
Prosecuting, Nicholas Flanagan said the brothers, who were in and out in less than 12 minutes, had “inside knowledge” of the post office and “knew it was a planned inside job”.
He told the court that at 7.30am on the morning of the robbery Rakib Shah reported that his car had been stolen but when the operator called him an hour later he said it had been found.
Prior to the robbery the car was seen on CCTV on Stockport Road and Rakim Shah was spotted leaving the car and purchasing a black beanie hat.
The car was later captured on CCTV with its registration plate altered.
When later arrested Aksar Shah was found to be carrying two bundles of cash containing £10 notes, despite being on Universal Credit at the time.
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The 29-year-old admitted the theft to the police but claimed he had only stolen £10,000 and that it was an “inside job with staff involved”, the court heard.
Rakib Shah was also arrested but denied any involvement, claiming he had been in bed with his partner that day and that he had left to buy the hat because his head was cold.
The duo later however pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal. On Thursday, September 21 they were jailed. Rakib Shah for two and half years, plus a week for breaching a community order, and Aksar Shah for 27 months.
The court heard that Rakib Shah has previous convictions, for the possession of cannabis and driving offences. His most recent conviction was for a driving offence in October last year for which he received a community order.
Aksar Shah meanwhile has no previous convictions.
Mitigating for Rakib Shah, Keith Harrison said the 26-year-old “was simply told to attend the post office at a certain time” and was not aware of how much money would be taken from the business.
He said that when Rakib Shah entered the post office the money had already been packaged and the CCTV had been disconnected by those who “recruited” him.
Mr Harrison added that Rakib Shah has “contrition” and feels he has let his family down.
Mitigating for Aksar Shah, Richard Simons said the 29-year-old was “recruited” by his brother the co-defendant, who had asked him to be involved in a “sham robbery of a post office”.
He added that other than Aksar Shah carrying out the “physical features” of the robbery by removing the money, his involvement was “very short” and he was “unaware of the scale of the amount of money to be taken”.
Mr Simons said Aksar Shah, who has lost his place at Salford University, feels he has let his partner and family down which “bears heavily upon him” and that he allowed himself to be “enticed into offending” without considering the consequences.
Passing sentence, Recorder Alex Leach acknowledged the prosecution’s case that the brothers had “pretended to conduct a robbery” and that Aksar Shah had said those at the post office were “complying conspirators”.
Addressing the brothers he however said: “You were aware you were stealing from the post office and a significant amount of cash was involved and by the time you were taking the cash you must have realised you were taking a substantial sum.”
He said that he was “satisfied” the pair were “aware of the planning” but said they were not the “organising minds in the enterprise”, adding: “ Although you were by no means the architects yours was a substantial role.”
There is a continuing police investigation into the robbery.
