Police warn gangs as Berry's Jewellers raider jailed

Aug 5 2009 by Dan Warburton, The Journal

AN ARMED raider was jailed for 11 years last night – prompting detectives to issue a stark warning to Eastern European gangs who enter the country to target luxury jewellers.

Shaven-headed Raido Raaga donned a bushy wig when he stormed Berry’s Jewellers, in Grey Street, Newcastle, on August 20 last year.

He terrorised staff at the luxury branch by brandishing a gun and fleeing with watches worth more than £130,000.

But when he tried to orchestrate a similar raid 250 miles away in Windsor, Berkshire, he was caught by an off-duty police officer who chased him into the street and arrested him.

Raaga was later identified using CCTV images from the Newcastle raid.

Today the 23-year-old is beginning an 11-year stretch behind bars after admitting robbery and possession of an imitation firearm at Reading Crown Court. Accomplice Valdeko Kallaste, 34, also from Estonia, was handed a seven-year jail sentence for his part in the raids.

Det Con Iain Watkinson, of the Thames Valley Police, said there were growing numbers of illegal immigrants who were entering the country and performing sophisticated robberies before travelling home.

He said: “There is a growing trend of people performing these high-value robberies and then leaving the country soon afterwards.