Five men have been handed jail sentences of between 12 and 17 years for targeting and stealing from men on the Grindr dating app in a series of robberies. Demalji Hadza, Abubaker Alezawy, Ali Hassan, Wasim Omar and Mohammed Sharif were found guilty of stealing £100,000 ($137,000) from men in Birmingham and Derby over a 10-month period. The convicted men lured their victims into meeting them, before assaulting and robbing them. Some were held captive for several hours and suffered injuries such as broken noses, dislocated shoulders and broken eye sockets. The gang members were given their sentences at Birmingham Crown Court.
The victims were lured to particular locations under the pretence of meeting genuine Grindr users, but on arrival were set on by the group. The robbers sought belongings such as money, house keys, identification documents and even vehicles. One judge, Sarah Buckingham, said there had been “long lasting consequences on the men who have done nothing to deserve what happened to them.”
The gang’s activities started in April 2023, during which they encouraged men to come to specific locations for meetings before robbing and assaulting them. Some victims were held against their will while the robbers raided their bank accounts using their mobile phones. The convicted men are aged between 20 and 24.
Some of the men were sentenced to as much as 17 years and three months in prison for their crimes. Officers involved in the case said that the case highlighted the need for people to be vigilant when using online dating services, and to be careful when agreeing to meet someone they have not met before. The members of the gang were found guilty of a wide range of charges including robbery, theft and false imprisonment
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