‘London’s most prolific Grindr gang’ jailed for over 8 years
Two men who were part of what police called “London’s most prolific Grindr gang” have been jailed for a total of eight-and-a-half years after using a gay dating app to target men in the capital.
The Met said Rahmad Khan Mohammadi, 23, and Mohammed Bilal Hotak, 21, stole phones, passports and wallets in 35 burglaries and 20 related frauds totaling £68,000 over six months.
One victim was hospitalized for stress after his finances were “destroyed” when loans, loan agreements and overdrafts were taken out using their name.
Sentencing the pair at Iselworth Crown Court on Monday, Judge Adenike Bologun said the gang relied on victims being “ashamed to report the crime”.
But he said he was not convinced the crimes showed hostility towards the victims because of their sexual orientation, adding that “this is an opportunistic crime.”
The court heard how Mohammadi, from Harrow, and Hotak, from Hackney, both Afghan nationals, broke into the homes of unsuspecting men by arranging to meet them on a dating app.
Met Police officers told BBC News that more than one man a week was being targeted by constantly creating new profiles on the app.
Once inside their home, the duo distracted the men and persuaded them to unlock their phones by demanding they use them to play music, sometimes asking the victim to shower before sex, and then escaping with the device or other valuables.
The gang then used debit and credit cards stored on the phones, and in one case stole money by breaking into the victim’s bank account and transferring cash.
In another incident, they persuaded a man to meet them at a nearby park.
David Patience, prosecuting, read statements from the victims to the court, describing the damage done to their confidence and finances.
One described how she felt her ‘vulnerability was used against me because of my sexuality and body size’.
‘I was manipulated and taken to a park late at night, my phone was taken away, I was humiliated and unable to protect myself.’
Another described how he was hospitalized due to stress, while another described how his studies and finances were ruined.
Mr Patience claimed the pair harbored “derogatory ill will” towards the victims because of their sexual orientation and use of the app, which is predominantly used by gay and bisexual men.
“They didn’t target women, they didn’t target heterosexual men, they targeted gay men. They thought it would be easier to commit crimes against them,” he told the court.
But Hotak’s lawyer, John Kearney, claimed that “the victims would have learned a lesson” and strongly denied the suggestion that this was somehow “malicious intent towards the gay community.”
“Women would not be so stupid and reckless as to put themselves in a vulnerable position when strange men entered their homes,” she said.
Nathan Toms, defending Mohammadi, claimed his client left Afghanistan after he was stabbed by his girlfriend’s brother when he was 15.
“His own family forced him to flee,” he told the court.
“His father was going to kill him because he had connections to the government and believed it would ‘reset relations’ with his employer. He came to this country in a truck.”
Muhammedi was sentenced to five years in prison and Hotak to three and a half years.
