Facing jail, gang who posed as star to steal Mercedes

The gang made at least £1.5million by pretending to be genuine owners and duping car dealerships into handing over replacement keys.

They stole the singer's Mercedes S350 from outside his Hampstead home after travelling to a dealership in Holland pretending to be him and producing false documents before being handed replacement keys.

Karar Al-Azawi, 22, Babir Bashir, 28, Rayhan Namajee, 25, and Umar Arshad, 21, are facing jail today after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing. Snaresbrook crown court heard the conmen posed as buyers before making off with the high-powered vehicles during "test drives".

Mohammed Nadeem Ilyas, 27, from Ilford, is already serving six months in a Belgian jail for fraudulently collecting keys, the court heard. Scotland Yard detectives investigated a total of 60 car thefts worth £2.3million. Most were Mercedes or BMWs. Al-Azawi, from Forest Gate, Bashir, from Ilford, and Namajee, from Ilford, were arrested in February 2007 at a dealership in Colindale where they were found with a fake passport and fraudulently obtained keys to a Mercedes S320. Police later discovered keys to an E320 saloon when they raided Bashir's home.

Detectives recovered a number of vehicles but believe the gang sold other stolen cars to overseas buyers. Michael's Mercedes was never recovered and is believed to have been shipped abroad.

Al-Azawi was released on bail but travelled to Holland where he used forged passports to trick dealers into handing over replacement keys before stealing the cars days later.

He was released again after he and Arshad, from Manor Park, were arrested in a stolen BMW in Forest Gate.

Al-Azawi went on to make six key orders in Belgium targeting vehicles totalling £250,000. Met officers notified Belgian police in May 2007 and Ilyas was arrested collecting keys.

He was jailed while Al-Azawi was sentenced to two years in prison in his absence by the Belgian court. Arshad had a stack of forged and blank log-books awaiting stolen car details at his home.

In May 2007, Namajee bundled a seller out of the way before stealing a BMW during a test drive in Essex. He was identified in December 2007 as the seller of a Nissan Primera that had also been stolen in a test drive.

Al-Azawi, Arshad, and Bashir admitted conspiracy to steal vehicles. Namajee, admitted conspiracy to steal vehicles and two counts of theft relating to the BMW X5 and Nissan Primera.

Dc Ian Slaney of the Stolen Vehicle Unit said: 'As a result of this case the car industry has clamped down on the way in which it issues spare keys."