TWO young thugs who dragged a minicab driver from his car and threatened to shoot him unless he handed over his takings have been locked up.

Yahye Ismail, 20, and Marcus Benjamin-Williamson, 18, ordered the man to give them his money when he dropped them off in Jasmine Grove, Penge.

Ismail pointed an imitation handgun at him during a struggle – but the driver told the jobless pair he had nothing because he had just started work.

So they made off in the minicab empty handed shortly after midnight on May 11.

A week later, Benjamin-Williamson was caught at a Penge flat after his mobile phone was found to have been used to book the cab and Ismail was arrested outside Croydon Probation Service.

Now Benjamin-Williamson, of Parchmore Road, Thornton Heath, has been locked up indefinitely at a young offenders’ institution for the public’s protection after pleading guilty to robbery and taking a minicab.

The Croydon Crown Court judge said he was dangerous and should not be considered for parole for at least two-and-a-half years.

And Ismail, of Norbury Avenue, Thornton Heath, has been sentenced to four years at a young offenders’ institution after pleading guilty to robbery and being found guilty by a jury of having a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence.

Bromley CID’s Det Con Andy Collin said the sentences show street crime is a police priority and that robbers “must expect to be punished severely”.