Two carjackers who threatened lone drivers with a handgun before stealing their cars for ‘money and greed’ have been jailed for 20 years.
Boustaan Adalat, 22 of Keylnmead Road, Kitts Green and Asri Hussain, 25 of Silverbirch Close in Saltley were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday (3 September) after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing for robbery, possession of a firearm and conspiracy to rob. The pair were sentenced to 10 years for each charge to run concurrently.
The pair targeted lone drivers and admitted to stealing five high value vehicles with a combined total of nearly £105,000 including Audi and Mercedes cars in a six week crime spree across Birmingham.
In one robbery they threatened two care workers with a handgun before dragging them from their Audi worth £24,000 as they visited an elderly client on Benedicts Road, Small Heath.
During their spree they targeted drivers who had left their cars for a matter of minutes and in one case a man was threatened for his brand new Audi A3 worth £19,000 on Ivor Road in Sparkhill which he had collected only hours before.
But their plans were scuppered when they attempted to steal a top of the range Mercedes from a woman on Saturday 29 March on Coventry Road in Small Heath.
Hussain and Adalat threatened the 52-year-old with a gun who demanded she hand over the keys.
The pair sped off towards the city centre but eagle-eyed cops spotted the car which had been circulated minutes after the attack.
They tried to escape but lost control of the Mercedes before crashing into a wall on Dereham Close.
Eager to evade arrest they ran along residential streets closely followed by police. CCTV shows Adalat sprinting through a cul-de-sac with the gun still in his hands.
He was arrested on Adderly Road having discarded the gun in a nearby garden. Following a search the gun was recovered and when examined was found to be a gas powered pistol.
Detectives began to piece together their activities during February and March and discovered that they matched the descriptions of 13 other carjackings in the area.
During identity parades they were picked out by the drivers and with CCTV evidence officers had enough to charge them with 14 offences.
Detective Inspector Ben West, from Force CID, said: “These men targeted lone drivers and in the majority of cases women.
“They were purely motivated by money and greed and it would appear they stole the cars to strip and sell on for parts.
“During their crime spree they stole cars with a combined worth of almost £105,000.”
