Two men jailed for car ‘cannibalism’ in UK city | UK | News
Two men who removed the bumpers, hoods, rim covers and headlights of the cars on the other side were imprisoned. Birmingham. Mohammed Khan and Mohammed Haydar, both 23, were sentenced to prison on Friday, June 26, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit theft from motor vehicles. Birmingham Crown Court.
West Midlands Police (WMP) said it was working closely with Birmingham City FC after fans reported vehicles parked outside the club’s St Andrew’s stadium had been “cannibalised”. Victims often returned after a match to discover “significant damage and theft”, Birmingham told the court. This caused “significant financial loss, inconvenience, recovery costs, insurance consequences and serious distress”, it said.
Video posted on social media by WMP shows Khan, of Croxton Grove, and Haydar, of Fernhurst Road, removing bonnets, bumpers and cladding from cars in the West Midlands. In one of the clips, Khan can be heard bragging about his crimes: “That’s the way to live, isn’t it?”. Haydar can also be seen smiling.
The crooks even filmed themselves in the act, posted the results on social media and took photos of the stripped cars, boasting about what they had done.
Police said the duo burglarized vehicles in a matter of minutes in a crime spree that spanned almost two years, from December 2022 to October 2024.
Detectives combed through hundreds of hours of security footage and underwent forensic examinations to identify Khan and Haider.
The court heard the total value of the thefts was around £500,000.
Det Cons Choudhury, who is leading the investigation, said in a statement: “Both Haydar and Khan were meticulous in their crimes.
“They carefully planned each theft to cause serious distress to their victims, who were left with a broken-down vehicle.
“Thankfully, we were able to put together a comprehensive investigation which revealed that both Haydar and Khan had committed nearly 100 crimes of cannibalism, and they will now be spending time behind bars.”
Khan admitted 98 crimes and Haydar admitted 20 crimes. They were each sentenced to four years and three months in prison.
Judge George Lubega said Haydar had only admitted involvement in the thefts amounting to £66,000 but was a “leading player” in the conspiracy.
He said that although they were arrested many times, they committed crimes while being released on bail.
While Khan’s lawyer expressed remorse in mitigation, Haider told the judge that he stopped after marriage.
