Two males from Birmingham have been jailed for drugs and firearms offences after West Midlands Police recovered a ‘boasting’ video showing them in a stolen car with a shotgun.
Husam Yafai and Worum Gatkouth were both arrested on 12th January this year after a VW Gold was stolen the previous night from a property in Wheelers Lane, Kings Heath.
Police spotted the vehicle being driven on Exeter Street in Birmingham city centre, and officers managed to stop the car after they boxed it in successfully.
Gatkouth fled from the vehicle and ran into some nearby shops. He had dumped his jacket after exiting from the driver’s seat of the stolen car.
It wasn’t long before officers found him and his jacket. They also found the fob for the stolen car in his coat.
Yafai was sat in the back of the stolen vehicle. He was searched by officers and found to have a balaclava, gloves and a loaded sawn-off shotgun that was found in the footwell.
The gun was in the same bag which can be seen in a video that Yafai posted to Snapchat hours earlier, with the caption: “Straps (guns) out. No gloves, ain’t no time to be careful.”
Gatkouth, 21, also had heroin and cocaine on him.
He later claimed he was being forced to drive the stolen car, despite video recovered from his mobile phone showing him rapping as he was driving around the city centre.
Gatkouth, of Raven Hays Road, Northfield, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply, driving while disqualified and common assault and was jailed on 15th June for four years at Birmingham Crown Court.
Yafai, 20, of Angelina Street, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm and was given five years.
DC Edward Ketterer from WMP force CID said:
“I am very pleased to not only see these two dangerous individuals off the street, but also a loaded firearm and a quantity of class A drugs.
“We take possession of a firearm incredibly seriously, and I hope this outcome sends a message to anyone willing to carry a gun.”
