Pair face jail over theft of 1,440 PlayStation 3 machines

Two men involved in the organised theft of £700,000 worth of PlayStation consoles have been remanded in custody pending sentence.

Partizan Zejak, aged 28, and Nard Paloka, 29, were unanimously convicted by a jury of stealing 1,440 PlayStation 3 consoles from NYK Logistics in Grange Park, Northampton.

They denied theft but were found guilty following a week-long trial.

Paloka, of Walthamstow, east London was employed by NYK Logistics, which has the distribution contract for Sony games, at the time of the theft in May last year while Zejak, of Wake Way, Grange Park was a former employee. Twenty five pallets of PlayStation consoles were stolen and have never been recovered.

Judge Charles Wide QC remanded the pair in custody following the verdicts and warned them they now face prison sentences.

He added: "Even though the Crown put their role as foot soldiers, custody is absolutely inevitable and I remand them in custody."

The jury heard how the two men, who are originally from Albania but have been in the UK for the past decade, were involved in arranging for the lorry to be loaded with pallets before it was driven out of the deport at 6am. The theft was not discovered until at least 5pm later the same day.

Stuart Yeung, prosecuting, said the two men were not the organisers but had acted as foot soldiers, using their inside knowledge of the warehouse and its security systems.

CCTV footage was played to the jury showing an unmarked 38-tonne HGV lorry with two men in the cab arriving at the warehouse's gates.

The occupants told the security officer, who has since lost his job, they were from a firm called Trilogy and were collecting the consoles to deliver them to Scunthorpe.

Sentencing was adjourned for the preparation of probation reports until June.

 
 
 

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