A 20-year-old man who planned to defraud casinos by manufacturing his own cash chips was jailed for a total of 18 months. Augustin Dago contacted companies around the world, including Holland and China, claiming he had a casino in his basement, and asked them to make cash chips in £25 denominations. He even sent photographs to the companies showing the type of chips he required, asking that they be replicated.

In fact Dago planned to cash in the chips at Gala Casinos across the UK and then launder the money he had made through bank accounts he had opened in a false name. Dago applied for a driving licence in a false name, using the documentation to open bank accounts. He also used the licence as identification to enable him to become a member of two London Gala casinos in February 2009.

At Southwark Crown Court on Monday 26 April he admitted four charges under the Identity Cards Act of possession of false identity documents with intent. Dago also admitted giving a false name to the DVLA to get a driving licence and a charge of attempting to possess Gala Casino chips to use in the course of or in connection with fraud. He was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court yesterday, Tuesday 25 May.

The token company reported the order from Dago to Gala Coral Group Ltd, which runs Gala Casinos, informing it that someone had tried to place an order for Gala chips. Gala subsequently reported this to the police.

Dago was arrested by officers from the MPS’s Clubs and Vice Unit, which is now part of the Human Exploitation and Organised Crime Command, in March 2009. Searches at his home address at Richford Street, W6, found the UK driving licence applied for by Dago in his assumed identity that enabled him to obtain Gala Casino membership in a false name.

A computer was also seized by police, which had 13 photographs of Gala cash chips and details of four of the companies Dago had contacted requesting chips be manufactured. It also had verification of his requests from two companies.

Detective Inspector Ann Marie Waller said: “This was a calculated attempt to commit fraud against one of the major gaming groups in the UK. Due to the quick thinking of both the chip manufacturer and Gala Coral Group Limited, Augustin Dago was stopped from circulating counterfeit casino cash chips”.