Moment former G4S security guard uses old uniform to trick bank workers into handing over £117,000 before he flees to Ghana

This is the moment a former G4S private security guard used an old uniform to trick bank staff into handing over £117,00 before fleeing to Ghana.

Footage shown in court showed Kwabena Kissi, 40, entering a Santander bank in Brixton, south London, on July 5, 2022, carrying a large security bag.

The court heard the man was wearing a helmet with visor and face mask, along with his old uniform from when he worked for private security company G4S from 2019 to 2020.

Security cameras inside the bank show Kissi tricking staff into reporting to him from the secure office and unknowingly handing them bags full of £117,200 in cash.

Kissi then casually walks out with the money in his briefcase, while the tellers are completely unaware of the cunning robbery.

He was later seen walking along the road with a garbage bag containing money after changing his clothes.

Kissi then orders an Uber and is driven away from the scene.

Staff only realized they had been tricked when the real G4S guard arrived to carry out the regular Tuesday collection.

Kissi wore a helmet with visor and face mask, along with his old uniform from when he worked for private security firm G4S, to trick staff into handing over £117,200.

The thief flew with his loot to Accra, Ghana, the next day and lived there with his sick mother for nearly four years.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard Kissi’s deceptive scheme was only revealed when he returned to the UK on March 26 this year.

He had made the fatal mistake of ordering an Uber using his real name and phone number.

The police were notified and caught and arrested him as he was landing at Gatwick Airport.

He initially claimed it was a case of mistaken identity, but police said they found the same phone he used to book an Uber on him — the same phone he had on him during the robbery nearly four years ago.

He was sentenced to three years and four months in prison by Judge Rosa Dean in the same court. He told her he tapped into her ‘inner knowledge’.

Prosecutor Imogen Nelson said Kissi never returned his G4S uniform after resigning in 2020.

Otis Williams, the cashier at the Santander branch, told police he had separated £256,000 into eleven bags to be collected.

Kissi arrived at the branch around 10.30 in the morning.

When one unsuspecting member of staff said he was ‘a little early there’, Kissi told him he was on a new route.

‘No suspicion was raised at that stage. He did what any G4S officer would do, collected the bags, put them in a briefcase and took them out,’ the prosecutor said.

‘Alarm bells started ringing’ when Kissi didn’t return for the second time to pick it up.

“The penny really dropped when they saw the real G4S guy who was on delivery that day parked nearby,” Ms Nelson said.

Kissi was sentenced to three years and four months in prison at Snaresbrook Crown Court. Sentencing Judge Rosa Dean told him she had benefited from her “inside knowledge”

Otis Williams, the cashier manager of the Santander branch, said in his statement to the police that he collected £256,000, of which Kissi stole £117,200. Judge Dean says staff felt ‘extremely upset’ after robbery

Kissi was caught on CCTV walking down the street after changing clothes and placing all the money in a garbage bag before ordering an Uber to casually flee the scene.

Kissi was arrested at Gatwick Airport in March this year after police caught him ordering an Uber using his real name and phone number.

Kissi managed to steal £117,200 of the £256,000.

Santander employee Marlon Louis said in his statement that he had been working for Santander for 25 years and was ‘devastated and worried he might lose his job’.

Mr Louis added: ‘This person put my whole life in danger.’

However, in the end, no Santander employee was subject to any disciplinary action.

In April, Kissi, of no fixed address, admitted committing fraud by false pretenses, presenting false identification to the cashier to steal the money.

Kissi also pleaded not guilty to the second charge of possessing criminal property and the charge was also dropped.

Piers Walter, defending, said Kissi had fled to Ghana to care for her very ill mother, who was ‘financially struggling’.

He has since died of heart failure.

During his sentencing Judge Dean said: ‘You left the staff at Santander feeling extremely upset and I’m so glad to hear that they are not subject to disciplinary action as a result of your fraud.

‘Of course you fooled yourself by booking an Uber in your name with a phone number the police knew. After returning to Ghana, you returned from Ghana to the UK and were arrested.

‘I would like to note that the pre-sentence report was quite skeptical that your reason for flying to Ghana was to provide for your mother, but the reason was to avoid detection.’

Detective Constable Stuart Ponder, who led the Met’s investigation, said: ‘We identified Kissi as our suspect thanks to extensive CCTV searches and phone evidence linking him to the minicab he used as his getaway vehicle.

‘When we learned he left the UK the day after the fraud we feared he would never come back to face justice.

‘We kept our eyes on him and when he returned earlier this year cops were at the airport to arrest Kissi on the plane. When they searched him, they found he still had the phone he used to commit his robbery in 2022.

‘This case demonstrates the Met’s determination to tackle high value thefts and secure justice no matter how long it takes.’