"they believed they were vulnerable, easy targets."
Five men have been jailed for almost 80 years for a campaign of robberies, using dating app Grindr to target victims.
Over a 10-month period, the men stole over £100,000.
The offences happened at Golden Hillock Park, in South Birmingham and in Derby city centre between 2023 and 2024.
These men used Grindr to lure men to the offence locations before attacking and robbing them.
They also exploited the good nature of helpful members of the public by pretending to be injured to trick them into helping them.
In one case, the gang pretended their car had broken down in Derby. When two members of the public went to help them, they were assaulted and robbed.
The gang trapped the victims and their phones were used to transfer large sums of money.
CCTV footage showed the group attending cashpoints where they would also withdraw money. They would attend shops to spend money using the stolen cards and were seen celebrating outside the shop.
They also stole vehicles, house keys and threatened to stab the victims, using large weapons to substantiate these threats.
Victims were then left stranded as their car keys, wallets and identification documents were taken.
Many of the victims required hospital treatment, with some suffering broken eye sockets, a dislocated shoulder, and a broken nose.
The suspects concealed their identity but officers analysed CCTV, tracked vehicles, traced financial chains and worked with forensic phone specialists.
This allowed them to build a case against the armed gang.
Detective Inspector Tom Lyons, from Birmingham LPA, said:
“This was a calculated series of robberies with Hadza, Alezawy, Hasan, Omar and Sharif, deliberately targeting victims because they believed they were vulnerable, easy targets.
“My team conducted a lengthy investigation which required piecing together many strands of evidence.
“I know that it took the victims in this case a huge amount of bravery and courage to come forward and support the criminal justice process through to trial – and I commend them for doing so.
“Their evidence enabled us to launch a full-scale investigation and build a strong case, which ultimately brought the offenders to justice, and has undoubtedly prevented many other people from becoming a victim.
“I hope today’s sentencing provides reassurance that we take these types of offences extremely seriously, and always do everything in our power to bring offenders to justice.
“Those found committing offences like this can expect to face a considerable length of time in prison.”
The men sentenced were:
- Demalji Hadza – 16 years and two months
- Abubaker Alezawy – 16 years and five months
- Ali Hassan – 16 years and nine months
- Wasim Omar – 17 years and three months
- Mohammed Sharif – 12 years and three months
After sentencing, Detective Constable Sarah Byrne said:
“Convicting these individuals would have never been possible without the victims’ bravery in sharing their accounts with the police and court.
“We hope that seeing these individuals being held to account for their actions will bring closure for the victims.
“I would encourage anyone who has been subject to a similar ordeal to come forward and report it to police.
“All reports will be dealt with sensitively and victims will be supported by specially trained officers.”