A TEENAGER has admitted taking part in knifepoint robberies of other boys on buses in Bexleyheath.

Muhamet Bajraktari, a Kosovan, aged 18, from Balgowan Road, Plumstead, was part of a gang which threatened four 16-year-old boys as they travelled on buses, Croydon Crown Court was told.

The other members of the gang were Somalian.

The court was told the first robbery took place on March 10 when a boy was robbed of his sovereign ring, a walkman and his mobile phone. Two days later the gang confronted three boys on another bus with a knife and forced them to hand over their valuables, including money, a cash card, mobile phone and a gold bracelet.

One victim said Bajraktari had produced a black-handled combat knife with a four-inch blade and told him: "I'm going to stab you. I've got a knife."

Prosecuting, Dominic Kelleher, said the boy was the only witness to claim Bajraktari had a knife, although others claimed one of the Somalians had one. Police officers found a knife when they searched Bajraktari's home, but Mr Kelleher said: "The Crown cannot say whether or not Bajraktari did have a knife. The evidence is too conflicting."

Bajraktari, who admitted four charges of robbery, denied he had carried a knife.

Remanding him for a probation report, Recorder Martin Joy told Bajraktari: "You have pleaded guilty to serious offences and a custodial sentence seems inevitable."

July 6, 2001 11:06