Man shot dead in botched robbery

A GRANDFATHER has been shot dead by two masked robbers during a botched raid on his business.

Akhtar Javeed, 56, was left bleeding in the street after the men burst into his warehouse and tied up his staff.

He was taken to hospital with a gunshot wound to the neck but was pronounced dead soon afterwards.

Police are now hunting the killers, who fled empty- handed f rom the site i n Digbeth, Birmingham.

Father- of-four Mr Javeed had run cash-and-carry catering firm Direct Source 3 with a business partner for two years. His traumatised employees told relatives they had been helpless against the armed robbers after they were all tied up.

They said they could only watch as the attackers led the popular boss away, before they heard the gunshot. Police said they were called by staff inside the premises around 6.40pm on Wednesday.

Passerby Norman Khan, 28, said he saw Mr Javeed – who divided his time between his family home in East London and a flat in Birmingham – being tended to by paramedics.

Mr Khan said: ‘His face was full of blood and there was blood on the floor.’

Friends of Mr Javeed, pictured, said his youngest children – sons aged nine and 11 – and his three-year-old granddaughter had not yet been told of his death. His wife Aysha and his two grown-up children from a previous marriage rushed to Birmingham on Wednesday night.

Wawar Abbas, 28, a close friend who lodges with the family in East Ham, said: ‘When we got the phone call about the robbery Aysha started screaming, “My husband has been shot!” ‘We didn’t know he had died until we got a second phone call. Everyone was in shock. He was such a loving, good man who worked very hard for his family.’

Police are appealing for witnesses who may have seen a car speeding away from the scene.

Jimmy Banga, 47, a manager at a nearby cash and carry, said three robbers armed with a gun stormed his shop ten months ago, while another was targeted in March.

Police are not currently looking at a link between the alleged raids.