It led to the arrest of 10 members of a highly organized gang who used guns, knives, hammers and crowbars to attack security guards refilling cash machines in London and elsewhere. Six of the robbers were jailed for more than 100 years. The investigation began as detectives picked through the few clues left by two midnight robbers who pounced on guards entering a Nationwide bank in Tooting, south London, in June 2018. The guards moved £120,000 to put into a cash register, the bank’s automated teller machine (ATM). Bandits wore unlimited black clothing, armor, masks and gloves. They left no DNA or fingerprints. Indoor CCTV cameras revealed no distinguishing features. CCTV outside the High Street bank showed nothing of the robbers, and no getaway vehicle. The side door The front of the bank was hidden from cameras by the parked cash truck. There was also a door hiding right next to the bank entrance. Baffled detectives concluded that the robbers must have arrived and left on foot through the other door. The door led to a block of flats and, through a fire station, to a supermarket car park and a network of side streets. CCTV cameras caught the two suspects walking around the time of the robbery. Another camera further away showed them arriving in a dark sports utility vehicle (SUV), but the image quality was poor, the license plate was illegible and the make and model of the car uncertain. Detective Constable Stephen O’Connell said: “It looked like an Audi Q7 or similar type of vehicle, but you can tell it’s not an Audi from a close inspection of the wing mirrors, the types of alloy wheels and the shape of the bonnet. the badge and the grill”. In an attempt to identify the car, he requested footage from all ANPR traffic cameras within four kilometers of the bank. DC O’Connell explains how the investigation unfolded: “We’re sure it’s a Skoda Kodiaq SUV but we can’t read the number plate. “An investigation of the ANPR camera reveals that there is a Skoda Kodiaq traveling down one of the side streets near the bank minutes after the robbery.” Image: Six members of the gang were jailed for more than 100 years The Birmingham Connection Traffic cam showed a clear number plate belonging to a Skoda Kodiaq being advertised on car sales website AutoTrader from a Birmingham showroom. DC O’Connell said: “I’m speaking to the manager there and he’s sure his vehicle wasn’t in London, it’s at his dealership and it’s locked inside. He has the keys to the house. “So the gang have apparently seen his advert on AutoTrader and copied the number plate and put it on another Skoda Kodiaq.” The reason the gang copied a genuine license plate from a registered blue Skoda Kodiaq, rather than say a white Ford Focus, was in case the car was stopped by the police for any reason. A check of the license plate would show the officers that it belonged to a blue Skoda Kodiaq and that would be enough to put any suspicion to rest. Of course, a closer inspection of the gang’s Skoda would reveal that it had the wrong number plate, but that was a calculated risk. The next thing the Flying Squad did was search through local crime records to find a stolen Skoda Kodiaq. They planned to look back two months, but quickly found one stolen in Wimbledon a fortnight before the heist. ANPR cameras showed the car driving around for an hour after it was stolen, but then it disappeared. The Prague connection Police contacted Skoda’s headquarters in the Czech capital Prague, where the company keeps a record of every car it makes. Skoda gave detectives the unique code for the stolen car’s satnav system. The code allows the satnav to work by connecting to telecom networks, rather like a mobile phone. Detectives asked the satnav’s telecommunications provider for the car’s data history. The data was not as accurate as they had hoped, but it did show that the satnav was switched off somewhere in Wimbledon, not far from where the Skoda was stolen. Image: A national bank in Tooting, south London, was targeted Going to the basement The squad flooded the area with undercover officers but were unable to find the car parked on the road. They then knocked on the porter’s door to a new block of flats with secure, closed underground car parking. In the car park was a blue Skoda Kodiaq, but it had a different number plate to the Skoda used in the robbery. A check of the vehicle identification number (VIN), or chassis number, inside the car showed it was the stolen Skoda they were looking for. “So we’re thinking, why did they change the plates on this again? They haven’t just abandoned this car. They’ve parked it, put it back in, they’ve got to use it again. “So instead of just grabbing it and taking the opportunity to get DNA and fingerprints from it, we’re going to leave it there and keep observations on it and see who comes up with it.” But they didn’t have to wait. Not smart enough When they checked the recent gated car park, it showed a man driving in, parking in block 248, appearing to change Skoda number plates and then walking up the stairs to the flats above. A check with the lot manager showed that the occupant of parking space 148 was a man named David Tesfaalem in apartment 30. “We look at the name David Tesfaalem and, lo and behold, he has previous convictions for armed robbery,” DC O’Connell said. The gang was smart, but not smart enough. A major surveillance operation in Tesfaalem eventually led detectives to the other members of the gang and their spate of violent robberies was stopped.
