A gang of five, caught attempting to order a fraudulent bank card at Barclays in Bexleyheath, have been sentenced to a total of nine years in jail.

They were sentenced at Luton Crown Court on September 19 for trying to steal hundreds of thousands of pounds from wealthy customers.

In July 2012, a Barclays Bank employee was approached at a branch in Bexleyheath and put under pressure to order a card and PIN for a customer with a high value account.

The following day Mohammed Patel, entered the same branch and produced stolen banking documents, utility bills and a counterfeit driving licence in the name of the Barclays customer, but was refused service.

DCPCU officers, who were lying in wait, followed Patel as he left the premises and met with two accomplices - Goodluck Asagba and Christian Salako. All three were arrested.

Two other members of the gang, Kyle Demetrius and David Ogun, were also linked to the frauds and were subsequently arrested and prosecuted.

In total eight individuals were defrauded by the gang and many more frauds were in the process of being carried out.