A GANG has been found guilty of subjecting a man to a terrifying 23-hour kidnap ordeal which only ended when armed police stormed their flat.

Adnan Kyani, 20, from Masterman Road in Beckton, Douglas Poku, 22, from Britannia Road in Ilford, Mohammed Nawaz, 25, from Browning Road in Manor Park and Benjamin Boakye 19, also from Browning Road, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap, blackmail and falsely imprison a person.

Following trials at Southwark Crown Court Yaw Darko-Kwakye, 25, from Butchers Road in Manor Park and Andrew Boateng, 21, from Trinity Gardens in Manor Park, were also found guilty of the same charges.

Their hostage, who lives in the Plaistow area, was captured by the group as he walked home from work one April afternoon last year.

He was hit over the head, had his face covered, and then dragged into a BMW car bought specially for the attack.

The men then drove him to a flat in Honeysuckle Court, Ilford, snatching his Rolex watch, two mobile phones worth £2,5000 and his bank cards in the process.

At the flat, the gang bound the man with handcuffs and a towel wrapped around his face, cutting and burning him until he agreed to call his brother, demanding £70,000 for his release.

If his brother did not comply, he was told he would "not be seen again."

After a rapid investigation by the Met's kidnap unit, police identified and stormed the flat.

According to a police spokesman "as officers entered Nawaz and Boakye tried to prevent police entering the bedrooms whilst Boateng, Darko-Kwakye, Poku and Kyani jumped from the first floor bedroom window but were arrested by police at the back of the flats."

Detective Constable Anthony Stevens, from the Met's Kidnap and Specialist Investigations Unit, said: "The hostage and his family were subjected to a terrifying and lengthy ordeal over the course of 23 hours.

"Our investigation established this kidnap was clearly a planned event on a completely innocent victim. The kidnap was and continues to be an exception as thankfully 'stranger' kidnaps continue to be a rare event in the UK."

A police spokesman added: "It is not known whether the hostage was targeted due to appearing to be visibly wealthy or whether it was a case of mistaken identity."

The sentencing date for the gang has yet to be set.