Wembley man admits fake £620,000 kidnap plot
Amit Patel admits kidnap plot - Credit: PA Archive/Press Association Images
Amit Patel, 26, was enlisted by son of a wealthy businessman to con his father
A Wembley man has admitted plotting with the son of a wealthy businessman to stage a fake kidnap plan to con his father out of £620,000-worth of gold bullion.
Amit Patel, 26, of Lancelot Parade, was enlisted by Viraj Mashru, 20, to help convince his dad Rajendra he had been abducted and demand the US $1 million bounty.
Southwark Crown Court heard Patel said he had taken his Kenyan-born co-conspirator from Africa to the UK and he would be harmed if his family did not cough up.
But Mashru, from Harrow, was hiding in Bristol and then in a hotel in Wembley, between October 25 and November 1 last year before police swooped.
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He and Patel admitted blackmail.
They will be sentenced at the outcome of the trial of alleged co-conspirators Marcus Bennett, 31, and Liban Mohamed, 34.
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Neither Bennett nor Mohamed, who both face the same allegation, entered any pleas during their hearing last week.
They are due to appear before the same court later this month, with a provisional trial date fixed for April 22.
Rajendra Mashru runs P N Mashru a logistics firm based in Mombasa, Kenya.
According to its website the firm has more than 300 vehicles and operates across East Africa.
Mashru and Patel pleaded guilty to conspiracy to blackmail and were remanded in custody.
Mohammed, of no fixed abode, and Bennet, from St John’s Wood, were also remanded in custody ahead of their next appearance.
