A rapid police response halted a group of burglars in their tracks within minutes of a break-in happening.
Fast-moving officers had all five of the intruders in handcuffs less than 10 minutes after the report first came in.
The fivesome was made up of Shehi Tayas, Sarmand Majeed, Hamaamin Hamaraza, Gara Fatah, and Qasim Ahmed.
Wearing balaclavas to cover their faces, the group forced their way inside a house in the early hours of the morning.
They then rushed inside the property in Wellington Street, St Ann’s – waking up the house’s sleeping occupants in the process.
A man had his phone stolen by one of the masked intruders during the break-in, which happened around 4.25am on 1 February this year.
That would turn out to be the only thing the burglars managed to take however, before they aborted their plan and fled from the house.
Unbeknownst to them, the police had been called by that point and were already on their way to the address – arriving at 4.31am.
Within the space of a few minutes, attending officers had successfully chased down and rounded up all five masked men.
They also managed to find and return the stolen phone to the victim too.
Tayas, 29, Majeed, 30, Hamaraza, 35, Fatah, 26, and Ahmed, 21, were all subsequently arrested and later charged with burglary.
Weighed down by the damning evidence against them, all five would eventually go on to plead guilty to the offence.
They all appeared before Nottingham Crown Court on Monday (3 November), where they were sentenced to a combined twelve-and-a-half years in prison.
Tayas, of Blake Lane, Birmingham, was jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Majeed, of Essex Road, Ealing, London, was sentenced to three years and three months in prison.
Hamaraza, of Higgs Road, Wolverhampton, received a two-and-a-half year prison sentence.
Fatah, of no fixed address, was jailed for two years and three months.
Ahmed, of Whitehall Road, Birmingham, received a two year prison sentence.
Detective Constable Ebony Robinson, of Nottinghamshire Police, said:
“I can only imagine how scared the house’s occupants must have been to be woken up by five balaclava-wearing intruders.
“Tayas, Majeed, Hamaraza, Fatah and Ahmed made up the quintet and were responsible for breaking into the property in the early hours of the morning.
“After breaking through the front door and charging inside, the group stole a phone, before fleeing from the scene otherwise empty-handed.
“Thanks to the rapid response time of our officers, however, none of them got far at all before they were chased down and detained.
“Those in attendance even managed to recover and return the victim’s stolen phone to them, so it was a great job all-round.
“We’re really pleased to see all five men have now appeared in court and are facing the consequences of their actions in the form of prison sentences.”
