A joint effort between the Met and Kent police has resulted in the successful conviction of a gang of prolific offenders who targeted Sainsbury's and other commercial warehouses in London and Kent over the course of a year.

Four of the five men, all from the Southeast, were jailed for a total of 38 years for conspiracy to rob with the fifth man being jailed for 30 months for conspiracy to burgle.

The gang carried out 53 commercial burglaries and robberies and created a climate of fear among staff at the supermarkets they targeted.

They often attacked Sainsbury's branches at night with knives and crowbars, threatening staff with violence before grabbing cash and goods, but were finally caught by specialist teams of Metropolitan Police Service and Kent Police officers during a raid in Hampshire which recovered cigarettes and cash valued at £50,000.

In total, police believe they stole around £364,000 in cash and goods and caused tens of thousands of pounds of damage to premises they raided between January and December 2004.

Jailing them, His Honour Judge Walker, said:

"This was a very sophisticated conspiracy which caused a great deal of fear and distress among the staff of the premises involved."

Detective Inspector Gary Kelly, from the Met's Territorial Policing Crime Squad, said:

"Painstaking work and co-operation with detectives from Kent Police and other forces helped us to catch a violent gang and see them jailed for a serious campaign of crime."