A GANG of Bolton robbers has been taken off the streets and jailed for almost 34 years in total.

Rameez Raja, aged 22, of Carrington Drive, Bolton, was found guilty of robbery following a trial at Bolton Crown Court.

He also pleaded guilty to two counts of common assault at an earlier hearing.

Today, Friday 18 March 2011, he was jailed for six years and three months Isfan Jahangir, aged 20, of Winton Grove, Bolton, pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery, handling stolen goods, possession of class A drugs and possession of class A drugs with intent to supply at an earlier hearing.

He was jailed for nine years.

Yasser Khan, aged 23, of Parkfield Road, Bolton, pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery and was sentenced to five years in prison. Umar Shezad, aged 18, of Venice Street, Bolton, pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery and asked for 12 offences of burglary to be taken into consideration by the court.

He was jailed for five years and eight months.

Safyan Hussain, aged 20, of Rudolph Street, Great Lever, pleaded guilty to three counts of robbery and was jailed for six years.

Anise Khan, aged 23, of Rigby Street, Bolton, pleaded guilty to robbery and was sentenced to two years in jail.

Raja, Jahangir, Yasser Khan and Shezad have all been convicted for their part in a failed robbery attempt at a jewellers in Bolton.

At about 10.35am on October 29 2009, the owner of Bombay Jewellers on Derby Street noticed Shezad acting suspiciously outside.

Shortly before 11am, he knocked on the door to be allowed in through the security system.

He held the door open and crouched to the floor to wedge a piece of wood under the door to keep it open.

Four men in balaclavas got out of a Ford Escort parked outside and ran into the shop. In their possession was an axe, a hammer and a sledgehammer.

The owner immediately started to lower a security screen while his wife activated the panic alarm.

The offenders threatened the 46-year-old man who initially retreated behind a security window.

However, after seeing the robbers smash their way into a glass case which held gold necklaces and bangles, the owner came out from behind the screen and started to hit one of the offenders with a baseball bat.

This man was carrying the axe, which he dropped to the floor after being hit.

One of his accomplices then threw the hammer in the direction of the owner, and it hit him on the hand.

The injury briefly distracted the owner and the offenders ran out.

They had managed to put £10,000 worth of jewellery into a holdall but left without it.

The car sped off without the suspects.

The owner smashed a window of the car with the bat as it was leaving, and then chased the remaining offenders for a few hundred metres.

Witnesses saw the getaway car collect two masked men nearby a few minutes afterwards.

A short time later officers noticed a car matching the description of the offenders' Ford Escort on Fletcher Street. The man driving the car was Umar Shezad who was arrested.

The owner identified Shezad as the man who opened the door for the robbers.

The day after the robbery a man also saw two men dressed in dark clothing throw a black bag over a fence. The man called the police and the items inside were seized.

DNA matches proved crucial to this investigation. A profile taken from a balaclava recovered from inside the car was linked to Isfan Jehangir, there was a match with Rameez Raja and Yasser Khan from balaclavas found in the bag.

A police investigation linked the group responsible for the Bombay jewellers attempted robbery and their associates to offences that took place between October 2009 and June 2010.

Det Chief Insp Paul Hitchen said: "The people of Bolton can feel safer now that this network of armed robbers is behind bars.

"Together they terrorised people and businesses in the area. Sometimes members of the group acted alone, but we have proven that in many cases they we co-conspirators.

"At Bombay Jewellers, however, they got more than they bargained for when they came across a shop owner who simply wasn't prepared to let anyone take advantage of his family run business.

"While we would never encourage victims to confront robbers, it was our job to ensure that the victim's bravery to protect his family and business was complemented by the offenders being brought to justice.

"Through the quick-thinking of officers on the ground and the thorough inquiries carried out by detectives, we reached that objective."