Two armed robbers have been jailed for a total of 20 years after carrying out a series of terrifying car-jackings across Birmingham – and threatening to shoot their victims.
Boustaan Adalat, 22, and Asri Hussain, 25, held up female and male drivers in the Small Heath, Sparkhill and Sparkbrookareas before fleeing in their high-value vehicles.
The violent crooks are believed to have pistol-whipped one victim and put guns to the head and stomach of others in order to steal £105,000 worth of cars during a six-week crime spree.
Adalat, of Keylnmead Road, Kitts Green, and Hussain, of Silverbirch Close in Saltley, were eventually captured following a police chase after they car-jacked a £38,000 Mercedes from a female motorist – and then crashed the vehicle.
The pair appeared at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday 3 September after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to robbery, possession of an imitation firearm and conspiracy to rob. They were sentenced to a total of 10 years each.
The court heard career criminals Adalat and Hussain targeted mainly lone motorists in inner-city Birmingham between February 5 and March 29 this year.
String of attacks
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on the latest news and updates from around the Muslim world!
They first struck on February 5 when they stole a £14,000 Ford Fiesta from St Oswald’s Road, Small Heath, as motorist Safiyya Bi was collecting her son from a takeaway.
Hussain was carrying what looked like a small black handgun and the mum was ordered out of the vehicle as Adalat approached from the rear of the car.
The pair then drove off – leaving the terrified victim traumatised by her ordeal. She has not driven since.
On February 11, the pair held up Imran Khan in Aubrey Road, Small Heath, and stole his £3,100 Mini Cooper after he was warned: ‘‘Don’t try any funny business or I will pop your legs.’’
On February 15, they threatened care workers Emma Hinch and Natalie Roberts with a handgun before dragging them from their Audi worth £24,000 as they visited a client in Benedicts Road, Small Heath.
On March 14 Hussain car-jacked Aurangzeb Saddiqui in Ivor Road, Sparkhill, and stole his brand new Audi, worth £19,000 after the victim was also threatened with an apparent gun. He later told police: “I really believed when he put the gun to my head that he was going to shoot me and I would be dead.’’
Hussain struck again on March 26 when he and another hooded male targeted retired Christopher Merchant in Kyotts Lake Road, Sparkbrook.
The victim was believed to have been pistol whipped to the ground and told to hand over the keys to his Ford Focus or he would be shot.
Adalat was involved in another car-jacking on the evening of March 27 when Samuel White had his Astra stolen in Chapman Road after he was threatened with what appeared to be a revolver.
But the crime spree came to an end on March 29 when Patricia Mcintosh, 52, was targeted by the pair.
She was returning to her car on Coventry Road when the thugs demanded the keys to her Mercedes convertible and Hussain put a gun to her stomach before Adalat pushed her to the ground.
But the reported stolen car was spotted soon after by a police patrol car and a pursuit followed – before the pair fled on foot after they crashed the Mercedes into a wall in Dereham Close.
They ran along residential streets closely followed by police. CCTV shows Adalat sprinting through a cul-de-sac with a gun still in his hands.
He was arrested hiding in the bathroom of an unsuspecting homeowner’s house in Adderley Road, having discarded the gun in a nearby garden. Hussain was arrested nearby.
Following a search the gun was recovered and when examined was found to be a gas powered pistol, loaded with ball bearings.
West Midlands Police’s SOCU
West Midlands Police’s Serious Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) launched a painstaking investigation, led by senior investigating officer Detective Inspector Ben West and officer in charge Detective Constable Craig Hall.
The team began to piece together Adalat and Hussain’s activities during February and March and discovered the pair matched the descriptions of 13 other car-jackings.
During identity parades they were picked out by drivers and with CCTV evidence officers had enough to charge them with 14 offences.
Both men had a string of previous convictions. Adalat had previously been jailed for possession of knife and in January 2011 was sentenced to six years after being involved in a £37,000 robbery of a jewellers.
He was on licence for that offence at the time of the car-jackings.
His defence lawyer Daniel White said his client had shown ‘‘genuine remorse’’. He added Adalat was a cannabis user who had what he thought was undiagnosed Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Hussain had received four years for robbery in December 2006 and had also served time for theft convictions. Nicholas Berry, defending, said his client had started using cannabis at the age of 12 and later moved on to Class A drugs.
Jailing the men yesterday, Her Honour Judge Elizabeth Stacey said: “It’s a really serious matter to rob people, even more to do so with an imitation firearm which does not look like an imitation firearm from what I have seen. These were very serious repeated robberies.’’
After the case, Detective Inspector Ben West said: “These men targeted lone drivers and in the majority of cases women. They were motivated by money and greed and it would appear they stole the cars to strip and sell on for parts.”
None of the cars have been recovered and both defendants refused to speak during police interview.
