Fraud manwho lived'life of Riley'is jailed

A PERSISTENT fraudster who lived a high life of champagne, drugs and online gambling has been jailed for his part in a sophisticated “cloned” credit card conspiracy.

Zaheer Qureshi, 26, was locked up for two years by a judge yesterday, but Bradford Crown Court heard that a man suspected of being one of the organisers of the scam was still on the run.

In June, 2008, Volodymir Kozlenko was detained along with Qureshi and his brother Haroon Abbas after a failed attempt to buy nearly 500 worth of electrical goods from the Argos store in Shipley, Bradford.

When Abbas’s home in Lonsdale Street, Bradford, was searched, officers recovered electrical goods.

Kozlenko failed to answer bail and is still at large.

Qureshi, of Aireville Grove, Shipley, was jailed after the court heard details of his repeated use of cloned or stolen credit cards.

Qureshi, who had a previous conviction for conspiracy to defraud using cloned credit cards, ran up a bill of over 11,000 on a card stolen from his father.

In September, 2007, Qureshi had used another cloned credit card to pay for a stay at the Ramada Bradford and Bingley Hotel. He and two friends ran up an alcohol bill of 700.

Qureshi, who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to defraud charge involving Kozlenko and others between September 2007 and July last year, also used cards to set up online gambling accounts.

Qureshi was arrested on various occasions but continued to offend while on bail.

His barrister Abdul Iqbal accepted that Qureshi’s involvement escalated to him living the “life of Riley”.

Qureshi’s brother Abbas, 28, also admitted the conspiracy charge on the basis that he had driven him to the Argos store in Shipley. He was sentenced to six months in jail, suspended for two years, and ordered to do 80 hours unpaid work for the community.