A brother and sister were jailed for a total of nearly five years for fraud and theft offences which netted hundreds of thousands of pounds. Andrew Aniakor, 29, of Hewer Street, Westminster, and Angela Aniakor, 36, Windermere Avenue, Wembley, are both une

A brother and sister were jailed for a total of nearly five years for fraud and theft offences which netted hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Andrew Aniakor, 29, of Hewer Street, Westminster, and Angela Aniakor, 36, Windermere Avenue, Wembley, are both unemployed, and used their plundered money to fund lavish lifestyles and frequent trips to exotic countries, and for an international property empire.

Southwark Crown Court heard how Proactive Money Laundering Team officers raided a safe deposit box in Edgware Depository belonging to Andrew Aniakor. They discovered more than �99,000 in cash and three forged Nigerian passports.

Officers arrested Aniakor at his home in November 2008 and later charged him with three counts of possessing false identity documents and one count of possessing criminal property.

He appeared at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court where he was released on bail of �25,000. But officers became suspicious when his sister Angela paid the hefty sum on the same day.She was discovered to be committing benefit fraud and sub-letting a council owned property, netting her �138,000, which she used to fund regular trips abroad and a number of overseas homes.

She was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Thursday, August 26

after pleading guilty to one Theft Act offence, one Proceeds of Crime Act offence and two Social Security Administration Act offences.

Andrew Aniakor was sentenced on Wednesday September 1 to three years and two months in prison.

Detective Chief Inspector, Terri Nicholson, from the economic and specialist crime command, said: "The result illustrates the value of using financial investigation to target organised criminal networks.

"In this case a family network, who systematically defrauded the public purse over a number of years.

"Now confiscation proceedings begin to deprive the two defendants of all assets acquired through their criminality. This is another excellent result for the Operation Rize team.