TWO men were today jailed for nine years each for a massive conspiracy on selling site eBay after police busted an “Aladdin’s Cave” of stolen and counterfeit goods in Bradford city centre.

Detectives say that £1.25 million was laundered through PayPal accounts used in the plot that involved the sale of at least £460,000 of stolen items.

Plot mastermind, Aamer Ali, was caught red-handed unloading computer monitors plundered from a lorry into his rented offices in West Riding House in Cheapside, Bradford.

After his arrest in February last year, the police seized counterfeit goods from the offices, including 500 Sony PlayStation Dual Shock controllers and more than 300 Nintendo DS games consoles.

The stolen property included hundreds of bottles of perfume and garden furniture.

Ali, 32, and Naveed Zaman, 30, were convicted of conspiracy to handle stolen goods and money laundering offences after a five week trial at Bradford Crown Court.

Zaman had £10,000 in his car when he was arrested in March 2012.

A further £65,000 was found in a holdall at his home.

During a four-year-long investigation, the police uncovered a sophisticated and organised enterprise where stolen electronic items, typically televisions and computer monitors, along with counterfeit games consoles and game controllers, were sold on eBay.

Zamanof Rhodes Street, Halifax, and Ali, of Richmond Road, Halifax, recruited others, who will be sentenced next month, and used their eBay, PayPal and bank accounts to trade items on a grand scale, predominantly stolen from curtainside lorries throughout England.

In 2010, Ali was jailed for five years for running a counterfeit goods racket involving copied computer games and DVDs and stolen TV sets and laptops.

Zaman, his lifelong friend, received a 12 month suspended sentence for his involvement in the scam.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC, today made a five year Serious Crime Prevention Order against them both to protect the public.

He said they were undeterred by their earlier sentences and Ali was hatching the new conspiracy while still serving his jail sentence.

“This was professional crime, it was sophisticated crime: it was very well planned and executed. It happened over a long period of time and it was group activity,” Judge Thomas said.

He referred to a letter from Zaman to Ali in which he mentioned “hitting the game hard” when they set up their new criminal enterprise.

Although the “resourceful and cunning” Ali had thought up the scheme, Zaman was not a foot soldier but had a managerial as well as a hands on role.

Detective Constable Tony Chapman and Detectve Constable Ashley Nuttall were publicly commended by the judge for their excellent work on the long-running investigation.

After the case, Det Con Chapman, of Calderdale Proceeds of Crime Team, said: “Zaman and Ali were the masterminds behind this professional and sophisticated scheme, recruiting others who could be trusted in order to keep their own identity anonymous.

“This lengthy and complex investigation has attacked the criminality marshalled by Zaman and Ali and the respective sentences reflect the seriousness of their offending.”