Gang foiled on verge of £17m scam

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The group is believed by British Transport Police (BTP) to have been on the verge of netting £17 million.

But the "highly organised" operation was uncovered after uniformed officers were carrying out routine anti-terrorist patrols, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Dariusz Zyla, 30, Roman Zykin, 38, and Krzysztof Rogalski, 31, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to transfer criminal property ahead of a trial which was due to start earlier this week.

Hannes Pajasalu, 34, admitted conspiracy to transfer criminal property. The four appeared in court on Friday.

Malgorzata Zykin, 41, pleaded guilty to transferring criminal property and was sentenced to six months earlier this week.

The international operation was uncovered after Zyla was stopped and found with 40 prepaid mobile phone top up cards at London's Victoria Station. The cards were encoded with stolen credit card details.

By making clones of mainly American-issued credit cards the gang could make purchases, withdraw cash and buy high value travel cards.

Gang members adopted aliases and lived a life of luxury, splashing out on holidays, BTP previously said.

The known fraudulent transactions amounted to more than £150,000 - but BTP believe if the conspiracy had not been intercepted the figure could have been £17 million. Sentence was adjourned to next month.