P-addicted pair jailed for stealing vans to fund habit

Two men who stole $220,000 worth of vans to finance their $1000-a-day P habits have been sent to jail.

Brendan Matthew Cooper, 40, and Mohammed Salim Sahib, 30, were responsible for the theft of dozens of Toyota vans over a two-year period. The vans were stripped into parts and shipped overseas to be sold on the black market.

Cooper and Sahib pleaded guilty to 50 and 15 counts of theft respectively, and were yesterday sentenced in the Auckland District Court by Judge Anne Kiernan.

She rejected submissions from defence lawyers to sentence the pair to home detention and sentenced Cooper to three years and five months in prison.

Sahib was sentenced to one year and three months, and is likely to be deported once he has served his term.

Crown prosecutor Joshua Shaw submitted 39 victim impact statements and said more than half the van owners were uninsured and suffered direct financial loss.

He read out one statement from a German backpacker who had bought his van for $2000 to travel around New Zealand. All his possessions, including a passport and airline tickets worth $3000, were inside the stolen van.

"My entire life was in the vehicle and I have suffered a significant financial loss," his statement said.

The Weekend Herald revealed the car theft ring in June when the pair were arrested for stealing dozens of Toyota vans, then stripping them for parts which were shipped from Auckland to the Middle East.

The parts are valued for their durability in the desert sands of countries such as Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan.

Toyota vans have been the most stolen car in Japan for several years. Auckland police noticed a similar pattern locally, and started Operation Beryl in April.

More than 550 Toyota vans were stolen in the previous 18 months, but only 18 per cent were recovered. The normal recovery rate is 70 per cent.

Police began covert surveillance of Cooper's Panmure home in May and photographed stolen vans being driven in and leaving with false plates.

After his arrest, Cooper told police he could not remember how many vans he had stolen because there had been so many.

Sahib said they had stolen one van a week for nearly two years to pay for their drug habits.

"Cooper admitted that he funded his lifestyle by stealing these vehicles, he admitted to being a methamphetamine user and stated that he had no choice but to commit crime to survive," the police summary said.

For Sahib, defence lawyer Cameron Robertson said his client was less culpable than Cooper as "he did as he was told".

The pair had formed a relationship, and Sahib moved in with Cooper after a relative kicked him out of her home because he was gay.

The pair planned to hold a civil union behind bars but this was stopped by prison authorities because Sahib is an illegal immigrant.

Mr Robertson said they would "like to cement their union at some stage".

Cooper's lawyer, Dan Rawlings, said his client accepted he needed to be held accountable and had written a letter of apology.

He said Cooper had employment prospects on completion of his sentence as a mechanic in the "lawful maintenance of motor vehicles".