A GANG dubbed the “Sloane Raiders” were jailed for a total of 16 years yesterday for fleecing some of Britain's wealthiest people in a £1.2 million con.

Mohammed Iqbal, 30, of Kipling Place, Stanmore, was one of two men who used their security clearance at the Sloane Square branch of Barclays bank to set up huge cash transfers.

They were helped by Chikezie Emeruem, 33, from the Bradford branch, and businessmen Naresh Patwari, 50, and Karl Hession, 29, who used their company accounts to launder or wire the cash abroad.

More than £547,000 was siphoned from the accounts of customers during the scam in November 2007 while attempted transfers totalling £633,000 were thwarted.

The crooks were exposed by electronic records which showed them repeatedly accessing the victims' accounts.

Iqbal was jailed for five years for theft, attempted theft, fraud and conspiracy to steal.

Judge Anthony Pitts told the defendants: “It is the nightmare for any customer of any bank.

“Knowing that we use bank access on the internet and cards – always liable to fraud from eBay or internet purchases – the one thing you need to rely upon is that your money is safe with your bank, and that you are not liable to fraud.

“Well, that trust was misplaced as far as you three are concerned, because you ended up raiding or attempting to raid the accounts of the more wealthy, premier clients of the bank to the tune of £1.2million.”

Iqbal's co-worker Tommy Jackman, 24, left Barclays but continued the fraud after moving to Abbey and used the money to pay off his girlfriend's parking fines.

Jackman, of Enfield, was jailed for four-and-a-half years, Emeruem, of Leeds, for three-and-a-half, Patwari, of Surrey, for two and Hession, of Stoke-on-Trent, for one.