By Lucinda Herbert

Copyright expressandstar

Watch the video that landed a brazen car theft gang in prison after boasting about their crimes on social media.

Waqar Khan, Harris Haroon, Mohammed Akleem Ali and Bilal Khan targeted BMWs and other expensive models while loitering on streets and car parks. Between January and July last year they stole more than 40 cars from around Birmingham and Solihull.

Between January and July last year they stole more than 40 cars from around Birmingham and Solihull.

Gang targeted BMWs

Detectives launched an investigation and discovered Khan used his own BMW to stake out targets and even as a getaway car.

On 20 June a Toyota Hilux was stolen from a carpark on Holliday Street in Birmingham.

The car, which had a tracker fitted, was later found on James Street, in Tyseley.

‘Dozens’ of car thefts

CCTV showed Khan arrive in the stolen car, before leaving the area in his black BMW that was being driven by Bilal Khan.

Officers were able to link the group to dozens of car thefts.

They would often share photos and videos on WhatsApp and Snapchat flaunting the cars they had stolen.

Some of the videos showed the group posing by the stolen cars, driving them and even stealing them.

Flaunted stolen cars on Snapchat

Screenshots of several stolen car posts from Facebook was also shared by the group in chats to each other.

Some posts included cars that had been recovered by police from locations that the group had left to see if they had trackers.

Facebook posts made by victims about their stolen cars were also shared in the group.

The gang would also contact the victims to try and blackmail them into buying their own car back for thousands of pounds.

Crooks tried to ‘blackmail’ victims

If the cars had trackers, they would rip them out and replace them with their own trackers.

If the car wasn’t recovered, they would then contact potential buyers across the UK.

One buyer travelled from Middlesbrough to buy a stolen Toyota Hilux.

In July last year, the gang were arrested and their phones and equipment used to steal cars were seized.

The gang, all from Birmingham, admitted conspiring to steal motor vehicles earlier this year.

Waqar Khan, 25, was jailed for four-and-a-half years and Haroon, 20, was sentenced to three years in a young offenders’ institution.

Bilal Khan, 28, received a two-year suspended sentence and Ali, 18, was handed a 36-month Youth Supervision Order.

He was also ordered to participate in a Restorative Justice intervention programme.

After the sentencing hearing at Birmingham Crown Court, PC Junaid Ali from the Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: “This group were prolific and treated their offending as a business enterprise.

“They committed these crimes again and again, stealing all types of cars and selling them on. But by doing so, they incriminated themselves.

“Our forensic investigators managed to interrogate their handsets and find lots of the material they filmed and sent to each other bragging about their criminality that ultimately caught them out.

“This is a great result and has meant that four prolific car thieves have been brought to justice.”