(Australia-NewsWire.Com, November 09, 2012 ) New South Wales, Australia -- Five members of a high-tech burglary crew suspected of targeting high-end homes in the greater New York City region were arrested by New Jersey police in an Englewood, New Jersey garage. The individuals were intercepted as they were working to crack open the large, heavy safe stolen from a Greenwich, Connecticut residence.
The five Englewood residents taken into custody included: Akeem Boone, 27, a fugitive being sought on drug trafficking charges; Marc Rainey, 25, a former wheelman in a drive-by shooting who was charged this May with burglarizing a home three days after his release from prison; Jerrell Bordeaux, 27, earlier acquitted of charges in a fatal shooting; Jamelle Singletary, 24, and Robert Hastu, 44, the owner of the garage.
Several of the arrested men have lengthy criminal records or ties to the so-called James Bond Gang. The group is a decades-old crime organization from Teaneck and Englewood, specializing in burglarizing luxury homes in New Jersey, New York, and other east coast locations.
FBI agents gave the original gang that name because one of its founders rigged a BMW with 007-style gadgetry to defeat would-be pursuers. Gadgets included a remote-control rear license plate that flipped down to reveal blinding halogen lights, and a grease jet mounted by the tailpipe.
Police say the crew arrested late Friday night used the same type of sophisticated methods seen in a recent epidemic of home burglaries. Typically, a crew of at least three in high-end SUVs or luxury sedans would force entry into a luxury home whose owners were away, disarm any alarm system, and quickly steal high-value items from bedrooms and home offices. The crew was thought to use electronics to avoid detection, and monitor police movements.
Morris County, New Jersey prosecutor Robert Bianchi hailed “joint operations and information sharing” among law enforcement agencies in New Jersey and Connecticut for leading to the arrests. Police from Teaneck, Englewood, and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department took part in capturing the defendants.
Bianchi also noted police in at least 12 New Jersey towns and several of the state’s counties had been working for months in a joint undercover investigation and intelligence-sharing effort aimed to stem an upsurge in residential burglaries. All five men were charged with possession of burglary tools and receiving stolen property.
The safe, which police said would have taken several men to move, and burglary tools were seized when a combined force from several New Jersey police departments raided the garage. Garage owner Hastu was tackled by an Englewood police officer when he tried to escape during the raid. He was subsequently also charged with maintaining premises used for illegal activity. Hastu is being held on $10,000 bail. The remaining four remained in custody on $750,000 bail apiece.
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