Two men convicted of conspiracy to defraud Virgin Media have been sentenced at Leicester Crown Court. Manish Javahar of Leicester pleaded guilty of Conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced to 21 months, Bobby Bhairon of Coventry also pleaded guilty to and was sentenced to 19 months in prison, suspended for two years.
The ringleader, Mahesh Tailor of Leicester, the owner of a printed circuit board manufacturer, imported thousands of set-top boxes from the Far East and sold them for up to £180 (€210) each. The OTT devices delivered channels from overseas, bypassing the need for a subscription from the cable operator.
Last August, Tailor was sentenced to six years in prison and disqualified from being a company director for eight years. The police said: “This was a lengthy and complex investigation which saw officers being deployed at various locations across the country to take the network down and render the boxes useless…..When we raided Tailor’s home, we found £250,000 in cash in various rooms. There were similar amounts held in his business bank accounts.”
Leicestershire Police also recovered a container with 5,000 set-top boxes inside.

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