Man linked to murder on the run for a year
THE man accused of ordering one of Cardiff’s most notorious murders has now been on the run for a year.
Mohammed Ali Ege escaped the custody of Indian police by removing the window grills of a railway station toilet in New Delhi on April 12, 2017.
He is accused of ordering drug users Ben Hope and Jason Richards to kill a rival over money – but they targeted the wrong house and instead murdered 17-year-old Aamir Siddiqi.
Aamir was waiting for his Koran teacher at his family home on Ninian Road in the Roath area of the city.
He was brutally stabbed to death by Hope and Richards in what a judge called a “staggeringly incompetent attack”.
Aamir’s parents also suffered injuries as they desperately tried to protect their son. Ege was made the subject of an Interpol Red Notice over his alleged involvement.
The shocking murder received national attention, with appeals for information that could lead to Ege’s arrest. He fled the UK to France on a cross-Channel ferry – wearing a wig to cover his shaven head.
Indian media reported police as saying Ege went to Spain, Morocco, Senegal, Nepal and Bahrain.
He was arrested in October 2011 and is believed to have been held in Cherlapally Central Jail in Hyderabad awaiting extradition. He is also facing four charges in India and had been taken from prison to Patiala House courts in Delhi on April 12 last year. It was on the journey back that he escaped.
Commander Mahendra Kumar Rathod told reporters in India at the time: “After the court proceedings the accused was being brought back to Hyderabad by a train.
“The escort team reached the Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station to board a train to Hyderabad and were waiting at the Government Railway Police room.
“The accused requested the police to allow him to go to the washroom, and he escaped from there by removing the window grills of the washroom.”
Ege lived in the Riverside area of Cardiff and retains strong links to the city. It is thought he has financial support and last year South Wales Police said they “believe that somebody in this country knows something about Mohammed Ege’s whereabouts and [we] urge such people to contact us”.
While on the run previously Ege was allegedly using a number of false identities and had even made several trips overseas using his aliases.
Eight images of Ege were circulated to detectives in India who were trying to track him down.
During the time he was living in India before his arrest he is believed to have made trips to Laos, Thailand, Nepal, Bangladesh and Gambia.
Ege has still not faced trial for his alleged crimes and South Wales Police refused to provide an update on the hunt for him.
■ Anyone with information can call police on 101 quoting reference 1700150924 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.