Taxi boss ‘executed in drive-by’, court told
A TAXI boss was “executed in a drive-by shooting” amid an escalating feud between two families in Dudley, a trial heard.
The killing of 39-year-old Mohammed Haroon Zeb followed a car being used to run down someone, a group attack and another murder involving knives, said prosecuting James Curtis QC.
Mr Curtis told Wolverhampton Crown Court it was a “carefully planned attack” with eight men making an “agreement to shoot Mr Zeb in the head”.
Outlining the case to jurors, he said: “It is the case of the Crown, eight male defendants agreed to murder a man called Mohammed Haroon Zeb. He was a youngish man, a husband and a father. An agreement was made to shoot him in the head in a drive-by killing.
“They are charged with conspiracy to murder because each was playing a part in the agreement. It was carefully planned.”
Eight men have been charged with conspiracy to murder Mr Zeb, who managed Midland Taxis in Brierley Hill. He died after he was shot in Queens Cross, Dudley, on January 31.
Four of those men have been further charged with possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life. A woman has been also been charged with assisting an offender, one of the defendants, who was her boyfriend, the court heard.
Mr Curtis continued: “You are going to find out the murder was tragically the latest in a long running family feud of two family groups in Dudley.”
He said there were “tit for tat” allegations going on, including “allegations of criminal damage, kidnapping and throwing out of cars”.
Mr Curtis said the feud escalated to a car being used to run down someone, followed by “a group attack and murder”, the latter incident involving a stabbing.
Mr Curtis added: “Frankly, the Crown says this was a planned execution.”
Mr Curtis referred to hostilities from one family group, and reprisals from another.
The members of these two families and their close friends lived in close knit communities, the court heard.
Mr Curtis referred to two family groups as being the “Claughton family group” and the “Hussain family group”.
He said the former was called Claughton because they lived predominantly in the Claughton area of Dudley.
The Hussain family lived in the Himley area, he said.
He said the firearm used was a “big revolver”, with a number of defendants being charged with joint possession.
Hassan Tasleem, 24, of Richmond Road, Dudley, Arkarsh Tasleem, 26, of Shaw Road, Dudley, Choudhary Naheim Rashid, 47, of Kingswinford Road, Dudley, Choudhary Akeel Hussain, 21, of Brook Street, Dudley, Gurdeep Sandhu, 23, of Blowers Green Road, Dudley, Mohammed Rafiq, 20, of Gammag Street, Dudley, Umar Ali, 20, of Blowers Green Road, Dudley, Shamraz Ali, 20, of Tanfield Road, Dudley, have all been charged with conspiracy to murder.
Hassan Tasleem, Choudhary Naheim Rashid, Gurdeep Sandhu, and Umar Ali have also been charged with possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Sanna Iqbal, 27, of Hordern Road, Wolverhampton, has been charged with assisting an offender. The court heard she was the girlfriend of Hassan Tasleem.
All the defendants deny the allegations.
The trial continues.