Birmingham £100,000 diamond heist raiders 'paid by Mr Big'.

Sep 6 2009 by Paul Cole, Sunday Mercury

The pair remained on the run for six weeks until they teamed up with three other Birmingham men to carry out another heist.

On October 23 they struck at Rahman’s Jewellers, off Whalley New Road, Blackburn, Lancashire. The gang was armed with an axe, a hammer and a knife.

They fled the shop with valuables, leaving the owner with head injuries, a laceration to his face and cuts to his hands.

A driving instructor spotted the robbers and instructed his pupil to follow them in his car. He helped cops keep track of the getaway vehicle via a running commentary on his mobile.

After being arrested Ahmed and his accomplice told detectives they were responsible for the Hockley raid, claiming they had been approached by a businessman and offered £1,000 each to carry out the raid. Both refused to name the mystery ‘Mr Big’.

Four Birmingham men aged between 17 and 25 – including Ahmed and his accomplice – were found guilty of the Lancashire robbery and sentenced to a total of 14 years in June.

Asad Mohammed, 25, of Newton Road, Sparkhill, was sentenced to four years and eight months. Mohammed Nasir Khan, 19, of Walford Road, Tyseley, received three years and four months. Adnan Ahmed was sentenced to three years for robbery and one charge of dangerous driving. A 17 year-old boy – Ahmed’s accomplice in the Birmingham raid – was sentenced to three years in detention.

Last Friday Ahmed and his accomplice were further sentenced to 12 months prison, to run consecutively to their current sentences. The pair had admitted theft at an earlier hearing.