An Oswestry man who posed as a police officer as part of a kidnap plot was jailed for four years on Wednesday.

Alexander Paul Gibbons, 41, of Willow Street, Oswestry found guilty of conspiracy to kidnap with four others in a plan to kidnap a man following a Lancashire Constabulary investigation codenamed Pelican.

The gang launched an elaborate plan to snatch Hassan Akhtar in revenge after he stole cash from the crime gang’s kingpin.

Hassan Akhtar, along with his wife Amera, were employed by an organised crime gang (OCG) to transport criminal cash from the North West to Europe to launder the money.

But in August 2017 Akhtar stole a consignment of cash – £275,000 – and went on the run, sparking the plot to kidnap him and retrieve the money.

Head of the OCG Hanif Manijra employed a former soldier and private investigator called Alexander Gibbons to track down Akhtar and on August 25, 2017 Gibbons and his associate John Powell entered a Travelodge in Burnley Lane in Oldham.

Hassan Akhtar and his family had checked into the hotel on August 22.

Posing as a police officer Gibbons obtained the hotel’s guest list and a master key to all rooms. Moments later he and Powell were seen dragging Hassan Akhtar through the reception and outside. Akhtar, however, managed to escape.

The kidnap plot continued over the next two months with members of the gang using various sophisticated techniques, including the use of vehicle trackers to trace Akhtar’s movements and carrying out covert surveillance on him and his wife Amera.

On October 10, Gibbons and another gang member were arrested while carrying out ‘surveillance’ of Amera Akhtar.

They were in a vehicle which was searched and police recovered a ‘kidnap kit’ consisting of knives, tear gas, a balaclava, a snood, silicone gloves, duct tape, cable ties, a paper suit, plastic sheets, a photograph of Hassan Akhtar, a UN security badge, a sword disguised as walking stick and a demolition bar.

Also recovered from the vehicle was a piece of notepaper, upon which there was a handwritten note, it read, ‘take target, tape mouth 1st (sic), then hands, behind back, once in vehicle, tape legs'.

Gibbons and Thomas were arrested and the arrests of the other members of the gang followed police enquiries.

Both Hassan and Amera Akhtar, of Blackburn Road, Accrington admitted money laundering offences in July last year.

Hassan was jailed for 20 months and Amera was given a 12-month community order.

Gibbons was also convicted of having an offensive weapon – the cane sword – while George Anthony Thomas, also from Oswestry, was found not guilty.