Jubel Chowdhury is alleged to have approached Suzanne Laney (pictured above) on a dating website and offered an all-expenses paid trip
A gang of car thieves ‘recruited women drivers on dating websites’ before persuading them to take luxury cars out of the UK with promises of weekend trips away, a court heard.
The alleged ringleader, Jubel Chowdhury, is said to have led a group that stole high-end motors, before selling them on with bogus plates and log books.
The 30-year-old used freight companies to ship some of the vehicles to Malaysia for sale, jurors were told.
Blackfriars Crown Court heard how his alleged henchmen James Watts, 25, and Nathan Coker, 30, had also handled stolen cars and helped to plan travel.
Prosecutor John Lloyd-Jones, QC said that it was the prosecution’s case that each defendant played his or her role and that they were all guilty of the conspiracy.
‘Jubel Chowdhury, it is the prosecution’s case, that he was at the very centre of this. He made many of the arrangements for people and vehicles.
‘He was the point of contact for the freight companies who were contracted to ship these cars out to other parts of the world.
‘He was the one who travelled to the other parts of the world. James Watts, and Nathan Coker, they were close associates of Mr Chowdhury part of the proof of that comes from comments between them.’
British Transport Police discovered the con after one of the people involved in the plot was pulled over in a Range Rover at Dover (pictured above)
He added that it seemed Mr Chowdhury clearly trusted them with the information and will access to the cars, as well as trusting them with important tasks.
‘For their part James Watts and Nathan Coker did not just know what was being done, they knew what was really being done, and they took an active role in it, driving cars and making arrangements.’
Watts allegedly approached Sakira Begum, 26, and told her an expenses-paid trip awaited if she drove cars through customs.
Suzanne Laney (pictured above) was offered the opportunity to take a car over to France
Suzanne Laney, 30, was also approached over a dating website and offered a similar deal by
