Gang used Grindr app to target and rob victims

Abubaker Alezawy and Demalji Hadza (pictured left to right) were convicted at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday

A gang used LGBT dating app Grindr to lure men into meeting, police said, before violently assaulting them and stealing their belongings.

Demalji Hadza, 21, Abubaker Alezawy, 21, Ali Hassan, 20, Wasim Omar, 24, and Mohammed Sharif, 22, preyed on members of the LGBT community in a campaign of robberies, prosecutors said.

The five men were convicted of stealing £100,000 from men in Birmingham and Derby over a 10-month period.

Detectives said some victims were held for hours against their will and left fearing for their lives while their accounts were raided.

All five were convicted of conspiring to commit robbery and are due to be sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on 28 and 29 November.

The spree, which began in April 2023, saw men encouraged to meet at locations under the pretence they were meeting with a legitimate user on the Grindr app, West Midlands Police said.

But when they arrived, they were set upon by an armed gang, who sought to steal money, vehicles, house keys and identification documents.

Wasim Omar, Mohammed Sharif and Ali Hassan (pictured left to right) will be sentenced in November alongside Alezawy and Hadza

The force said some victims were hospitalised, with injuries including a broken eye socket, a dislocated shoulder and a broken nose.

The gang would sometimes trap victims, holding them captive before using their phones to transfer large sums of money from their bank accounts.

Detectives involved in the case said the gang preyed on vulnerable, easy targets.

"Convicting these individuals would have never been possible without the victims' bravery in sharing their accounts," Det Con Sarah Byrne said.

Georgina Davies, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said the defendants specifically targeted members of the LGBT community.

"They may have thought that the victims would not report the offences, but we were able to hold all five defendants accountable for their actions," she said.