TWO gang members involved in a stolen goods racket handling property worth thousands of pounds have been found guilty after an eight-day trial.

A group of car thieves as young as 17 stole cars, laptops, tablets, iPhones and other valuable items in burglaries and sold them on for cash.

It took covert police officers four months to capture the gang, who grew up together on Brighton’s Whitehawk Estate, trying to sell stolen property valued at £209,000, the court heard.

Eight admitted their involvement in the ring but Marcus Nye, 22, of Whitehawk Way, Brighton, and Henry King, 18, of Ninfield Place, Brighton, had denied conspiracy to convert criminal property but were found guilty by a jury yesterday.

Jurors had previously heard from Jonathan Edwards, prosecuting, that Nye was handed a flyer outside the Brighton Job Centre in Edwards Street last year which offered cash for second hand goods and left contact details for two undercover police officers.

In the following months he contacted two members of Sussex Police’s organised crime investigation team, referred to as Mo and Manny, to discuss sales and “introduced them” to other members of the group who were also keen to sell goods, he said.

Recordings were made of phone calls with stolen property being offered for sale and footage of exchanges were captured during the operation, the jury heard.

Mr Edwards said: “These two defendants, and the others, had a common aim. They were all working towards selling stolen property. They all knew each other by name after growing up on the Whitehawk Estate. They knew each others business and used each others mobile phones.”

On November 18 Nye offered Mo a Vauxhall Vectra and a Mini saying they were “hot”, meaning stolen, Mr Edwards had previously told the jury.

A Ford Focus, stolen from Durrington on December 29, was also agreed to be sold on January 5, he added, which arrived with a bag in the boot containing an Advent laptop, a Tesco Hudl tablet and other stolen items.

Giving evidence the police officer who used the name Mo, whose true identity has been concealed, said he was quoted £700 for a blue Volkswagen Golf which had been specially altered for a disabled driver. The exchange took place in an alley off Whitehawk Way on November 22 after Manny negotiated buying the car for £430, he said.

Sentencing for Nye and King, as well as the other eight defendants who had already pleaded guilty, will take place on a date to be set.