Brothers disguised in Royal Mail waistcoats stole £280k from post office in ‘sham robbery’
25.09.2023 - 18:59
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
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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