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Convicted human trafficker Mohammed Sangak, who received a two-year prison sentence after being found guilty of conspiracy to defraud insurance companies, fell with the help of what defendant law firm Keoghs described as an “in-depth” operation involving its fraud rings and advocacy teams.
“Formed in 2011 following the identification of 25 linked claims involving staged accidents and the company Essex Claims Limited, Operation Mets was huge in both scope and complexity,” said Keoghs in retrospect. “Over its lifetime it involved 76 road traffic collisions and 322 intimated damages claims, 318 of which were defeated.”
According to the specialist supplier of defendant legal services to the insurance sector, foiling the crash-for-cash group saved insurers more than £3.5 million.
“The trial wins were a fantastic culmination of what was an extremely complex, intelligence-led investigation,” said senior litigator Stuart McFadyen, who gave evidence on behalf of insurers. “The fact that nearly 99% of the claims we investigated were defeated demonstrates the value of having accurate data and intelligence available to us.
“This not only helped us focus our time and effort where it was most effective, it also helped us minimise the costs for our insurer clients and, in turn, their customers.”
Sangak, who was also handed an eight-year people trafficking sentence, was arrested by Kent Police and was previously referred to as being a significant figure of a highly organised crime group.
“It’s clear that Mohammed was at the heart of a very sophisticated criminal gang that had little regard for the safety and wellbeing of others,” commented Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) director Ben Fletcher when Sangak was sentenced in 2017. “We know that crash-for-cash fraudsters pose a significant risk to society and we see all too often that they are involved with other wider and more serious criminality.”
According to the IFB, 20 insurers were exposed to Sangak’s fraud ring.
