A GROUP of ram raiders who targeted a Dudley supermarket during a spree of raids have been jailed- after two involved were plucked from a canal by police.

West Midlands Police has released footage of the raiders ramming into a Birmingham shop, before they run off having been spooked by the noise of a police helicopter that was on the lookout for the gang following reports they had already attacked a Co-op store in Dudley and a Hockley jewellers.

The eye-in-the-sky followed the quartet, Shaun Sutherland, Abdul Nasim, Saifullah Khan and Nathaniel Brown, who were wanted over 20 shop raids in just six weeks, as it sped along residential streets.

Sutherland, 28, and 29-year-old Brown were tracked to the canal’s edge and plucked from the water by cops, while 27-year-old Khan was tracked by a West Midlands Police dog nearby and swiftly arrested.

Nasim, 20, from Applesham Close in Sparkhill was arrested a few weeks later.

All four were charged with conspiracy to commit burglary and were jailed at Birmingham Crown Court on June 24 having admitted roles in the ram raid plot.

Sutherland, from Eastwood Road in Balsall Heath, was jailed for six years four months; Nasim and Khan, from Smithmoor Crescent in West Bromwich, both given five year six month terms, and Brown from Longleat Avenue, Birmingham, sentenced to four years eight months.

Detective Inspector Tom Hadley from West Midlands Police Force CID, said: “This was an organised, determined and, on occasions, quite brazen conspiracy which caused substantial loss to small businesses.

“The men caused extensive damage and misery to the business community, plus huge inconvenience to the eight people whose cars they stole to carry out the ram raids.

“It’s estimated they caused damage in excess of £100,000 and carried bricks and pieces of concrete in their cars which they used as missiles to attack police and any members of the public who confronted them.

“We suspect other men were also part of the conspiracy; our investigation continues and we are determined to bring all those responsible to justice."