A CREDIT card fraudster was kidnapped and kept in a metal box for 10 days by members of a rival gang, a court heard.

Raheel Mirza, aged 23, from London, was repeatedly punched, kicked and had cigarettes stubbed out on his arms during his ordeal, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

The jury was told that a sophisticated debit and credit card-cloning operation was being used at BP Stax 24 garage in Wigan Road, Atherton and the BOC garage in Manchester Road, Bolton.

The scheme was run by a gang based in London and Leicester, which had agreed to pay a Bolton-based group £80,000 to run the scams in exchange for the information from the debit cards.

Prosecutors claim the two gangs stole around £334,000 from the bank accounts of almost 1,000 people.

But the relationship between the gangs broke down when the southern gang decided to pull out because the operation was not making them enough money, said Rick Holland, prosecuting.

"It was a fall out between thieves," he told the jury.

The court heard that in the early hours of January 25, 2007, Mirza removed the cloning and recording equipment from the Stax 24 garage on behalf of the southern gang.

Members of the Bolton group, who had accompanied him to the petrol station, drove him to the Pennington Flash beauty spot in Leigh where they dragged him out of the car and punched and kicked him as he lay on the ground.

Mirza was then gagged, blindfolded and thrown into a car boot.

His arms and wrists were taped up.

As the car moved off, the back seat was folded down and Mirza saw the defendant, Saqib Razzaq, looking back at him.

Mr Holland said: "Saqib Razzaq was incensed and swearing and shouting at him and punching him in the head. He was also hitting out at him with a small knife."

The court heard that Mirza was driven to Leicester where he was kept in what was referred to as a "metal box" for 10 days.

Cigarettes were stubbed out on his arms during his imprisonment while, the prosecution say, an agreement was negotiated by the two gangs for his release.

Ten people are standing trial on charges of conspiracy to defraud.

Saqib Razzaq, aged 30, and Anisa Mallu, aged 28, both of Pinfold Close, Westhoughton, and Nasima Esa (aka Mallu), aged 33, of Anson Street, Astley Bridge, all deny kidnap, false imprisonment and conspiracy to defraud.

Siddik Abdul Mala, aged 28, of Sheringham Place, Bolton, denies conspiracy to defraud.

Tariq Razzaq, aged 32, and Andrew Jordan, aged 28, both of Leicester, deny kidnap, false imprisonment, conspiracy to defraud and possession of prohibited firearms.

Imtiaz Patel, aged 29, of Leicester, Kashiff Choudry, aged 26, and Hanif Ebrahaim, aged 29, both of London, deny conspiracy to defraud.

Faisa Aslam Razzaq, aged 39, of Sheffield, denies two counts of perverting the course of justice.

Raheel Mirza, aged 23, from London, Yaseen Mallu, aged 32, of Anson Street, Astley Bridge, and Mohammed Ali Hajee, aged 33, of Watersmead Close, Astley Bridge, admit conspiracy to defraud.

(Proceeding)