TWO fraudsters who ran a lucrative credit card factory from a flat in Haringey have been jailed today.

Gabriel Yew and Cheng Chee Weng set up the operation in Hornsey Road, producing bogus bank cards using at least 700 stolen account numbers.

When police raided the flat earlier this year, they discovered more than £10,000 in cash, thousands of pounds-worth of gold jewellery and lists of the stolen account details ready to be put on to the credit cards.

Weng, 28, and Yew, 39, were arrested in March this year by Westminster Police's Chinese Unit when officers spotted two men exchanging brown envelopes in Chinatown.

When challenged, both men fled but the officer caught up with Weng and seized an envelope containing 11 counterfeit credit cards.

The ensuing investigation led them to Eagle House in Hornsey Road, where Yew, the other man spotted in Chinatown, was found operating the credit card factory from his basement.

At Southwark Crown Court, it was revealed how the men had used the scam to fund a lavish lifestyle, buying laptops, iPhones, expensive whiskey and jewellery to the tune of around £300,000.

Yew, who also worked as a bar manager and masterminded the illegal operation, admitted fraud and money laundering charges and was today jailed for four years.

Weng, who worked as a chef, also pleaded guilty and was jailed for 15 months.

Detective Inspector Dee Bain, who led the operation, said: “This case has come to a successful conclusion after only six months of investigation.

“This is testament to the exemplary partnership work that went on between the specialist detectives in the DCPCU and the Westminster Police Chinese Unit based at Charing Cross police station.”