A SINGLE fingerprint hit on a stolen car led police to a Lithuanian gangster responsible for a ‘significant’ number of burglaries across East Anglia.

Edmundas Tamosauskas worked as part of a crime gang responsible for more than 90 burglaries at homes across Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex.

The gang often broke into homes at night while the occupants were asleep to steal property and cars they intended to ‘ring’ to ship to Lithuania.

The 26-year-old was caught and the string of crimes unravelled by detectives from Norfolk CID after his print was found of one of a number of stolen cars dumped in Great Yarmouth.

Following a four-day long trial at Norwich Crown Court, Tamosauskas was today found guilty of conspiracy to burgle and conspiracy to disguise criminal property. He was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years imprisonment.

Judge Barham said common features in the offences showed that the same person was responsible and an aggravating factor was that householders were at home asleep while the burglaries were committed.

Speaking after the case, Det Chief Inspector Neil Firm said: “Tamosauskas was part of a crime gang carrying out multiple dwelling house burglaries in otherwise safe and peaceful communities, causing residents to fear for their security and safety.

“Working with others, he is responsible for a significant amount of crime both here and in neighbouring counties. The meticulous work of our detectives and Crime Scene Investigators has helped bring him to justice.”

Between April and September 2009 and working with others, Tamosauskas carried out dozens of burglaries, stealing food, household property and, in many cases, a car.

As well as crimes across Norfolk, they were behind similar incidents in Carlton Colville, Suffolk and Braintree in Essex.

In September, suspicious residents in Yarmouth alerted police to cars parked in Ferry Street. There officers found a number of vehicles with false identities stolen from burglaries across the three counties – believed to have been cloned ready for shipment to Lithuania.

Tamosauskas’s fingerprint was found on one of the cloned number plates and his DNA found at the scene of a burglary in Gage Street, Norwich.

He was arrested in Yarmouth on September 23.

Investigating officer Det Con Neal Carr from Norwich CID said: “With every enquiry, we found more crimes and new leads in other locations. The case just kept getting bigger and bigger. This was organised crime on a massive scale.”