Kidnappers beat & forced Student to rob his own Family

Three Birmingham kidnappers have been jailed for abducting an 18-year-old student and forcing him to steal from his own family.

Brothers Ibrahim and Hassan Rauf kidnapped the student after Ibrahim lured him to a shop in Balsall Heath on the pretence of feeling faint and needing help on May 8, 2019.

Hassan was lying in wait armed with a knife and forced the teenager into a Ford Fiesta where he was repeatedly punched and had his phone stolen.

He was later driven to his own home and forced him to help another unknown accomplice steal a camera, Asian gold and £2,000 in cash.

The victim was eventually dropped off in a Hall Green park where he was again punched and kicked before he was abandoned.

It was heard that the kidnapping was an act of “revenge”. The victim and Ibrahim were students at the same college.

On April 19, 2019, they were victims of a knife-point robbery by masked men who stole their phones.

However, Hassan “erroneously” suspected that the victim had set the robbery up and came up with a plan to get revenge. He subsequently recruited his brother and Hamza Yusuf.

Two weeks after the abduction, police arrested the brothers at their home in Fastpits Road. They also seized CCTV showing Yusuf’s role in the kidnap and assault.

The kidnappers were found guilty of kidnap. Ibrahim was found guilty of a further charge of robbery while Hassan was found guilty of further charges of robbery and conspiracy to burgle.

Harinderpal Dhami, for Ibrahim, said he had suffered cancer as a child and had been drip-fed a conspiracy theory by his brother.

She said that he had not envisaged the kind of violence that the victim was subjected to.

Judge Francis Laird QC said: “It was prolonged and sustained and it was well planned.

“There were a number of people and significant violence was used involving the use of more than one weapon.

“There were threats involving threats with a knife and the victim was forced to take property of significant value.”

He told Ibrahim:

“You did not have the will to carry on the violence yourself but you left your best friend to the mercy of others.”

Ibrahim, aged 18, of Yardley, was jailed for four years.

Hamza, aged 24, of Moseley, was jailed for six years.

Hassan, aged 22, of Yardley, has a warrant out for his arrest after failing to appear at court. He was sentenced in his absence to nine years.

Detective Craig Tennant from West Midlands Police said:

“This was very much an act of revenge: they believed the victim was involved in an earlier robbery in which Ibrahim Rauf’s phone was stolen.

“However, there was no evidence to suggest their claims were founded and their reaction, kidnapping the teenager, attacking him, and threatening him with weapons, was totally unacceptable.

“There is never any excuse for people to take grievances into their own hands and carry out vigilante attacks and anyone who does risks being jailed.”