Thankful Posted July 22, 2009 Published Date: 22 July 2009 MURDERER Mustaf Jama tried to escape justice even after he was captured and brought back to Britain from his African hideout, it can be revealed today. Main story: Justice at last for Sharon's killer » A James Bond-style snatch and grab mission was carried out in the Somali desert, where he had fled weeks after a bungled armed robbery in Bradford in 2005, during which two unarmed police officers were shot in the chest, one fatally. Ironically, he chose to lie low in the lawless state of his birth where British officials had declined to deport him as a younger man when he picked up a string of convictions - because it was deemed unsafe to do so. No official figure has been put on the cost of the operation - and Jama's defence team claimed the Somalis demanded a large sum. After he was snatched, Jama tried to challenge the legality of the extradition, arguing last July at Woolwich Crown Court that the process amounted to kidnap. Questions about the cost were raised at the hearing, which can be reported for the first time. Jama's barrister, Owen Davies QC, said: "A very large sum of money was being demanded by the requesting state in terms of costs and I still do not know what those costs represent. "I cannot imagine it costs that much for petrol from one city to the other." West Yorkshire Police picked up the bill for bringing Jama back from Africa, with the Home Office and Foreign Office sharing the cost of the operation in Somalia. Mr Justice Simon threw out the challenge, and ruled Jama should stand trial for murder. During the hearing, details emerged of the daring mission, which would not have been out of place in a spy novel. Secret intelligence indicated he was lying low in Somaliland, a region fighting for independence from Somalia. The British authorities deemed it too dangerous to enter the failed state, so agreed to pay the Somalis to get him out of the country. The process began with a direct approach to the country's president from a junior Home Office minister, and although no formal treaty between the two countries exists, diplomats agreed a "memorandum of understanding". In October 2007 the 29-year-old was stopped in his Land Rover at a road block near the village where his father is a warlord, then held overnight by a 15-strong militia in a cell. A pilot initially refused to fly him to Dubai the next day from a remote airstrip, believing he was being asked to transport an al Qaida terror suspect. He was then shown official documents signed by senior Somali officials and the British Ambassador to Kenya to persuade him to undertake the four-hour flight to Dubai in a six-seater plane. British and United Arab Emirates police met him at Dubai and put him on a scheduled Virgin flight to Heathrow. Jama claimed during the Woolwich hearing that he was mistreated and hit with the butt of a gun - but a photograph showed him smoking happily among his captors. One Somali heard him say he had been "with some friends when a policeman had been killed". He was found with a gun in his waistband at the roadblock - but did not try to blast his way out, unlike the robbers he joined for the Bradford raid. Jama explained how he fled to Africa despite being Britain's most wanted man. He used friend Mohammed Gulled's passport to travel to Somalia from Gatwick, via Dubai and Djibouti. Contrary to reports at the time that said he wore a woman's burkha as a disguise, Jama said he travelled in ordinary clothes. He claimed to have been given £2,000 by friends and said he drove the final stretch from Djibouti to Somaliland. Asked why he fled, Jama said he "panicked" after seeing his name in the newspapers and did not want to be arrested like his brother. He came to Britain aged 12 in 1992 after his family claimed they were being persecuted in a tribal uprising, and he was given permission to stay six years later. His younger brother Yusuf and their friend Muzzaker Shah were jailed for life in 2006 for murdering Pc Sharon Beshenivsky. Mustaf Jama's criminal record began in 1997, aged 17, when he was convicted of affray. He has since been jailed several times for a string of offences, including robbery, affray and driving matters. He was jailed again in 2005 for burglary, and in the run-up to the failed Bradford raid, he lived at a hostel in Harrow, North London. Though married, his wife lived with her mother in Edgware. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thankful Posted July 22, 2009 YorkShire Post Secret intelligence indicated he was lying low in Somaliland, a region fighting for independence from Somalia. The British authorities deemed it too dangerous to enter the failed state, so agreed to pay the Somalis to get him out of the country. The process began with a direct approach to the country's president from a junior Home Office minister, and although no formal treaty between the two countries exists, diplomats agreed a "memorandum of understanding". In October 2007 the 29-year-old was stopped in his Land Rover at a road block near the village where his father is a warlord, then held overnight by a 15-strong militia in a cell. Even though the whole ordeal took place in Puntland, even the english don't know anything about the difference between NW and NE Somalia. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rudy-Diiriye Posted July 22, 2009 Here is more detailed version of this story: A police killer who fled to a lawless region of one of the world’s most dangerous countries was captured and returned to Britain after a top-secret intelligence operation. Mustaf Jama, who was found guilty yesterday of the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky during a bungled armed robbery in 2005, was the country’s most wanted man when he escaped on a false passport. For the next two years he lived under the protection of his powerful warlord family in a remote district of northern Somalia. After months of intelligence-gatheri ng, high-level diplomatic negotiations and an agreed “bounty” payment to cover the costs of the Somali authorities, a secret military operation was launched to capture the fugitive. On an October morning in 2007 Jama was at the wheel of a Land Rover, accompanied by two young women, a gun and a large quantity of alcohol, when he approached what he thought was a routine roadblock. When the vehicle came to a halt, it was surrounded by 15 armed soldiers. Jama was seized and taken to a secure compound, where he was held under guard overnight. The next day he was taken to an airfield where a six-seater executive jet was waiting. Although the pilot thought Jama must be an al-Qaeda terror suspect and initially refused to take him, the killer, escorted by Somali guards, was flown to Dubai to be met by five West Yorkshire police officers. After spending the night at an airport detention centre, Jama was placed on a scheduled flight to Heathrow. At Newcastle Crown Court yesterday he was jailed for life for his role in the fatal shooting outside a Bradford travel agency. Jama, who will serve a minimum of 35 years, was one of three armed robbers who burst from the premises as two unarmed women police officers approached. The robbers opened fire and PC Beshenivsky, 38, who was married with three children and two step-children, was hit in the chest at close range. She died almost instantly. PC Teresa Milburn was shot and wounded. Jama, who admitted robbery but denied murder, claimed during his trial that he did not know that his accomplices were carrying guns. Yesterday’s conviction followed a retrial after an earlier jury failed to reach a verdict. Mr Justice Openshaw said that Jama belonged to “a team of dangerous and ruthless men” whose actions led to two police officers paying “a terrible price” for doing their duty. Jama’s younger brother, Yusuf, and Muzzaker Shah are already in jail for the murder, each with minimum 35-year sentences. A further three men received sentences ranging from eight years to life for their roles in the robbery. The five men were convicted at earlier trials. Detective Superintendent Andy Brennan, who led the murder inquiry and the international hunt for Jama, had vowed to track down the wanted man. Fulfilling his promise involved lengthy and delicate negotiations between the police, intelligence agencies, the British Government and war-torn Somalia’s Federal Transitional Government. The two countries have no extradition treaty. After two foiled attempts, the West Yorkshire force finally received accurate intelligence about Jama’s whereabouts in the breakaway northern region. The roadblock operation was dangerous because the Jama family wields local influence. Jama’s father is a cousin of Mohamed Siad Barre, the former President, who seized power in 1969 and headed a brutal regime until he was toppled in 1991. Jama was 12 when he was brought to Britain with his mother and two siblings by a Kenyan people-trafficker in 1993. By 2005 he had 21 criminal convictions, including three robberies. On his return to Britain, Jama challenged his extradition. The appeal was dismissed, but a court order prevented the reporting of the extradition until the conclusion of the murder trial. Mr Brennan said that Jama “thought he was untouchable” in Somalia. “Our determination to arrest and convict all those involved in the murder of Sharon Beshenivsky has been resolute. No matter where they were, we were going to find them and bring them to justice.” Piran Ditta Khan, 60, believed to be the architect of the botched robbery, remains at large, possibly in Pakistan. http://www.timesonli ne.co.uk/tol/news/uk /crime/article672378 3.ece Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Allamagan Posted July 24, 2009 ..In October 2007 the 29-year-old was stopped in his Land Rover at a road block near the village where his father is a warlord, then held overnight by a 15-strong militia in a cell. Abtiyaalkii uu la joogay ayaa xoggaa loo tuur-tuuray ayagibana soo xirxiray, weliba qaarkod London joogaan. Crime doesn't pay and he definitely paid the price. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
