SIX 'ruthless' thieves who smashed their way into a Blackburn jewellers and stole £450,000 of luxury items have been jailed for a total of 47 years.
A court heard how the 'organised Romanian gang' meticulously planned raids on 11 businesses across the country and escaped with £3.1million of jewellery, including watches, rings and necklaces.
The raiders struck at Chris Shan Jewellers in The Mall in February 2016.
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As well as escaping with high-value items, the gang damaged the building after smashing their way in using sledgehammers and starting a fire.
Speaking after the case, Det Con Nathan Fish said: "This ruthless and highly-organised group went on a country-wide crime spree which included a burglary at The Mall in Blackburn.
"During this particular incident the men caused significant damage to the shopping centre by smashing their way in with sledgehammers and setting a fire, before making off with a large amount of high value jewellery.
“We are pleased the courts have now handed down some significant custodial sentences.
"This is a fantastic result for the communities the group targeted and is testament to the hard work of officers at several UK police forces.”
Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard how the offences took place between November 2015 and September 2016 and also included raids at Fraser Hart, Milton Keynes, Goldsmiths, Oxford, Beaverbrooks, Stoke-on-Trent, Beaverbrooks, Basingstoke, Breitling store, Bluewater in Kent, Ernest Jones, Portsmouth, Montblanc in Bicester, Oxfordshire, Ernest Jones, Derby, Fraser Hart, Peterborough and Poel Jewellers, Stratford-upon-Avon.
Judge Paul Glenn sentenced four of the men to eight years and two months behind bars for conspiracy to commit burglaries.
They were Bogdan Costel Neagu, 24, of no fixed address, Vasile Daniel Cardos, 26, of Halesowen Street, Rowley Regis, West Midlands, Silvu Ioan Acatrinei, 20, no fixed address and Andrei Florin Tifui, 28, of no fixed address.
Fellow gang member Ioan Bucuresteanu, 24, of no fixed address, was given eight years' imprisonment for the same offence, while Ioachim Karp, 19, of no fixed address, was sentenced to six years and six months for aggravated burglary and conspiracy.
Det Chief Insp Ricky Fields, of Staffordshire Police, said the gang set fires as a distraction and also tied industrial cables across roads to block routes to emergency services.
He said the group could be linked to a crime academy in Romania, which recruits men and provides a strict code for its members as well as training in numerous techniques, such as avoiding being followed and understanding forensic evidence.
"This was a highly organised Romanian crime group who, thanks to great partnership working between all forces, we were able to bring to justice, he said.
"Police officers across the country have worked tirelessly and diligently to achieve this result in court."
A seventh man is due to be sentenced on March 28.
Also speaking after the case Cllr Suleman Khonat, who represents the Shear Brow ward on Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "Let's hope this sentence deters people from committing any form of criminality."
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