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Members of an Eastern European gang who flew around the continent for armed robbery day trips were today jailed for a £250,000 raid on a UK jewellers.
In a daring smash and grab attack lasting just 31 seconds, three Estonian gangsters netted a quarter of a million pounds worth of designer watches from a jewellers in Newcastle city centre.
Convicted murderer Marek Viidemann and his accomplice Sander Sarik smashed display cabinets with hammers, while Raido Ragga held staff at gunpoint to stop them raising the alarm.
Daring: The Estonian budget-airline bandits pictured on security camera during their raid on Berry's jewellers in Newcastle city centre
The trio were part of a wider gang targeting jewellers around Europe, whose members were bought flights by crime bosses in Estonia and ordered to carry out the robberies.
Gangsters who owed money to organised crime were recruited to carry out the robberies on day trips to their destinations around the UK and elsewhere.
They would fly back to eastern Europe the next day while the stolen goods would be shipped separately.
Jailing Viidemann for 10 years, Judge Brian Forster, at Newcastle Crown Court, told him: 'You were part of an international crime gang.
'You were willing to cause terror and fear and your purpose was to get as much as you could as quickly as you could and then leave the country.
'This was a daring and terrifying robbery and was carried out without regard to those who work in the shop.
'The courts will protect the citizens of Newcastle from anyone who thinks they can come and prey upon them.'
Fast: In just over 30 seconds, the gang swiped a quarter of a million pound worth of watches from the jewellers, as terrified staff were held at gunpoint
Viidemann, Sarik and Ragga struck at Berry’s jewellers, on Grey Street, Newcastle, at around 10am on August 20, 2008.
Convicted killer: Marek Viidemann, 35, was jailed for 10 years at Newcastle Crown Court for his part in the raid
Ragga went in brandishing a handgun while Viidemann and Sarik used hammers to get to the valuables.
Mark Simpson, prosecuting, said: 'The gunman pointed the handgun at staff and told them to get down.
'The others smashed the display cabinets and took 31 watches and the best makes were targeted.'
After just 31 seconds in the store they were gone, removing clothing and gloves as they left the scene.
Police recovered the clothes that had been left behind and found Viidemann’s DNA on them. Some of the stolen watches were later found on a coach in Dover.
Viidemann, 35, fled the country and ended up back in Estonia. He was finally detained on a European arrest warrant in his home city of Tallinn, the Estonian capital, last October.
Ragga, 26, and Sarik, 22, went on to carry out robberies at other Berry’s stores in Chester and Windsor. They were both jailed for 11 years at earlier hearings elsewhere.
Too late: Police outside the high-class jewellers after the robbery
The court heard Viidemann had a conviction in his homeland for aggravated murder for gain and robbery, for which he was jailed for 10 years in 1998.
In that offence he and four others beat a man to death to steal from him.
Judge Forster asked how he had got into this country, but prosecutors did not know. The Border Agency will be informed of his latest conviction.
Andrew Rutter, defending Viidemann, said: 'His involvement in this robbery came about because he had fallen on hard times in Estonia.
'It was not his scheme but he accepts he lent himself to it.'
Members of the organised crime gang have struck across Europe and five other robbers have previously been jailed for a total of more than 55 years.
The ring was linked to at least 150 armed robberies across the UK and Europe.
Jewellers were targeted in places including Leeds, Manchester, the West Midlands, London, Cheshire and Newcastle, while they also carried out raids in Germany, Sweden, Italy and Finland.
Detectives from Monaco even flew to Britain to quiz a member of the gang over a $75,000 raid on a Monte Carlo jewellers.
Police believed the gang stole watches worth more than £1million in total, few of which were ever recovered.
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