Gang’s plot to kidnap barber in drugs row
A BARBER was kidnapped, pistolwhipped and told he would be ‘taken to the moors and killed’ after he was blamed for the theft of drugs and cash.
The victim, who has since had to leave Manchester, was accused by Adrian Cameron of robbing a drugs courier of a bag which contained an ounce of cocaine, 20 bags of cannabis and £100.
Cameron believed the man was behind the mugging because they had a row about the sale of fireworks the day before.
Manchester Crown Court heard that Cameron, 36, along with co-defendants Ricardo Bell, 30, and Michael Wright, 46, then plotted to kidnap the man so they could interrogate him.
Usman Rathore, 33, and Azhar Mohammed, 34, were then recruited to deliver the man to the trio.
He was tricked to get into an Audi under the pretence that he was being taken to cut someone’s hair.
The man was taken to Salford and to Cameron, Bell and Wright, where he was bundled into a Jaguar driven by Bell, before being taken to Cameron and Bell’s home on Stockport Road in Levenshulme.
The man was attacked while he was in the car on the way to Levenshulme, and was blamed for the drugs robbery.
He was kept in the house for two hours as they sought to extract a confession from him.
During the ordeal, Cameron pistolwhipped the man with a revolver and ‘made a show’ of loading the weapon.
The man was told he would be ‘taken up to the moors and killed.’
The drugs courier was brought in, and told the others he was the man who robbed him the previous day.
Cameron told the courier to shoot the man, but then changed his mind.
The victim was then taken to a barber shop, where he was told to report to work the following morning to repay the sum lost in the robbery.
But instead of turning up to work the next morning, the man called the police, in a move the judge said the kidnappers ‘never expected.’
Sentencing, Judge Hilary Manley: “This was a planned and coldly executed crime. When men take up upon themselves to enforce their own perception of justice, they are rendering unsafe the streets of this city. Such behaviour cannot go unchecked.”
The court heard the barber, who also dealt drugs, was said to have been friends with Cameron, but the relationship turned sour.
All five defendants were jailed for their part in the incident.
Cameron, of no fixed address, and Bell, also of no fixed address, were both jailed for 11 years. Wright, of Canon Hussey Court, Salford, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years.
All three were found guilty of kidnap and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence after trial.
Rathore, of Wellington Crescent, Old Trafford, was jailed for three years and Mohammed, of Ullswater Road, Wythenshawe, was jailed for two years and 221 days. They were both found guilty of kidnap after trial. FACEBOOK has said it is ‘exploring additional measures’ to address antivaccination posts, following concerns raised about the controversial subject appearing in groups and pages across the social network.
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