Gunman who fled to Pakistan jailed in UK for murder

A screengrab taken from a video posted by West Midlands Police shows Tahir Zarif after being extradited from Pakistan where he fled after killing Akhtar Javeed. (Twitter/@WMPolice)

• Tahir Zarif, 31, will serve a minimum of 30 years for the killing of Akhtar Javeed, 56
• Zarif and 3 others attempted to rob Javeed in 2016; killer hid in Pakistan to escape justice

LONDON: A man has been jailed for life in the UK after murdering another man in a botched robbery and then fleeing to Pakistan to escape justice.
Tahir Zarif, 31, from Derby, shot Akhtar Javeed, 56, in 2016 while he and three others — Suraj Misty, 26; Lamar Wali, 23; and Sander van Aalten, 54 — attempted to rob Javeed’s food warehouse in Birmingham.
One of the four had previously worked at the warehouse, with knowledge of its layout. Employees at the site were tied up, and Javeed was dragged to his safe, where Zarif shot him in the leg to force him to open it.
Javeed then managed to free himself but was shot again by Zarif in the throat and chest as he tried to escape, stumbling out of the warehouse and into a street before collapsing.
Five days later, Zarif left the UK for Pakistan. He was arrested in Mirpur in 2018 and extradited two years later.
Video footage later emerged of Zarif firing a machine gun while on the run in Pakistan, and further footage showed him smiling when formally arrested on board his extradition flight to London by UK police.
Zarif claimed the murder of Javeed was accidental, but his “clear willingness to use the gun” and “intention to kill” saw him jailed for a minimum of 30 years at Coventry Crown Court.
His fellow robbers were convicted and sentenced in 2016. Misty was jailed for 23 years for manslaughter, while Wali and Van Aalten were both convicted of conspiracy to commit robbery and jailed for seven years and six years, eight months, respectively.
Javeed’s daughter, who requested anonymity, told the press following Zarif’s sentencing: “It’s been six years and nine months since my father’s life was taken by Tahir Zarif.
“My father has been in our thoughts every day since. As I have said before, my father was an honorable gentleman.
“Another man’s greed led to my father’s unlawful death. We are grateful to West Midlands Police for their hard work in ensuring justice is served.”