TWO young men were today each jailed for three years and nine months for their roles in a £350,000 credit card fraud.

Harjinder Bansil and Amrik Channa were convicted of conspiracy to defraud, following a two-week trial at Maidstone Crown Court in June.

Judge Warwick McKinnon told the pair: "This was clearly a sophisticated and yet quite simple fraud."

A jury heard that the two men, together with Bansil's girlfriend, Narinder Dobe, had been accused of taking part in a scam that involved "skimming" - copying legitimate credit and debit cards and producing duplicates for fraudsters.

Prosecutor Martin Griffith said Miss Dobe, 25, was working at a Texaco service station in Pelham Road, Gravesend, where cards were copied.

Mr Griffith said: "The Crown alleges that these defendants are a party to a substantial conspiracy by which genuine credit card details are dishonestly copied and the details used to create counterfeit cards."

He said nobody would challenge that there was a conspiracy but Channa, 23, and Miss Dobe, would say they were not a part to it, while Bansil, 25, claimed he acted under duress, having been threatened.

When police raided a flat in East Terrace, Gravesend, in December 2001, where Bansil and Miss Dobe were then living, they seized equipment used for credit card skimming.

Miss Dobe, of Cobham Street, Gravesend, was found not guilty of being involved in the credit card fraud but was conditionally discharged for possessing cannabis, which she admitted.

Bansil, of Singlewell Road, Gravesend, and Channa, of Seymour Road, Gravesend, were found guilty and sentencing was adjourned to allow time for reports to be prepared and further enquiries to be completed.

Judge McKinnon told them: "You fought the case and therefore can expect no discount. This was not a plea of guilty and there was no element of regret or remorse."

The judge said considerable sums were spent by banks and financial institutions, in trying to prevent such conduct, and courts must take a serious view of these offences - "particularly when we consider a total loss of nearly £350,000."

He added: "Although you did not gain from it, you played a significant role. I can find nothing to choose between you in the parts that you played."