Zahid Khan Ambushed and Blackmailed By His Own Best Friend
A Birmingham dad was kidnapped, held at gunpoint and blackmailed by his best friend.
Zahid Khan was “ambushed” the exact day he brought his dream car, a Rolls Royce worth £250,000. The terrifying incident happened when Zahid decided to proudly take it to show Rizwan Jahangir.
However, things turned ugly when his the man considered his friend kidnapped him, stole his car and demanded a cash ransom.
The gang of four men are now behind bars after being found guilty of blackmail and firearm offences with intent to commit an indictable offence at Birmingham Crown Court. They were jailed for a total of 41 years. They were cleared of kidnap.
After turning up to Rizwan’s address to show off his possession, Zahid said he was ambushed. After arriving at the house, he noticed there were three other men waiting for him.
Zahid said he was “blindfolded and held for seven hours before being forced to tell family members to hand over £10,000 in cash and his collection of expensive watches.”
The following morning he was dumped outside his doorstep to “collect even more money” for the safe return of his car.
However, the trainee pilot called police who then “drafted in armed officers to arrest the gang in a dramatic sting operation that was caught on camera in Coventry on April 5.”
At the time of the incident, Zahid’s wife had been pregnant with their daughter. He described the incident with his best friend as being “stabbed in the back.”
“I had only bought the car on that day and was only covered with third party insurance when they took it.”
“I had gone to visit Rizwan to show it him, but he stabbed me in the back. We had grown up together and I had known him for 15 years before he betrayed me.
“When I arrived there were three other men with him and I was bundled into the back of a car and blindfolded.
“They took my wallet and I was forced to call my family who left out £10,000 on the doorstep along with my watches.”
“They started out by asking for £1 million, it was ridiculous.
“At one point they pointed two guns against my forehead whilst I was blindfolded and threatened to kill me.
“Once they had picked up the £10,000 and my watches they let me go and effectively held my car ransom to try and blackmail even more money from me.
“I think they had plans to ship the car out of the country and I don’t think I would have seen it again even if I did hand over extra money.
“Everything has changed since this happened and I am far more careful about everything.
“They could have killed me, but I believe that justice has been served with the length of the sentences they were given.
“I am happy that they are behind bars where they belong.”
“Mr Khan added: “They basically came after me because I have money.
“I am successful and so is my family and they just wanted to take what I have. That is the only reason that I was targeted. It was pure jealousy.”
Police managed to recover the car from Kenilworth in Warwickshire alongside the £10,000 cash, however not the watches.
Rizwan Jahangir, aged 37, from Harts Road, Ward End, and Blall Harron, aged 31, from Morris Road, Ward End, were found guilty of blackmail and possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and were jailed for 13 years and 12 years.
Liaquat Hussain, aged 34, from Barrows Road, Sparkbrook, and Imran Ashraf, aged 35, from Benton Road, Sparkhill were found guilty of blackmail and each jailed for eight years.
