Two men – including a 21 year old from Northfield – have been jailed for drugs and firearms offences, after posting ‘boasting’ Snapchat videos in a stolen car with a shotgun.
Northfield man Worum Gatkouth and Husam Yafai (20) from Birmingham were arrested on 12th January, after West Midlands Police officers spotted a Volkswagen Golf – stolen the previous night from Kings Heath – on Exeter Street in Birmingham city centre.
Officers moved in to block the car and Gatkouth leapt from the driver’s seat, running into a nearby shop and ditching his jacket.
He was quickly arrested and the jacket recovered. The fob for the stolen car was in his pocket and Gatkouth also had heroin and cocaine on him.
Yafai was sitting in the back of the car, and during a police search officers recovered cannabis, a balaclava and gloves as well as a loaded sawn-off shotgun 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.”
Later, Gatkouth claimed he was being forced to drive the stolen car, but video recovered from his mobile phone showing him rapping as he was driving around the city centre.
Gatkouth pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply, driving whilst disqualified and common assault. At Birmingham Crown Court yesterday (Monday 15th June) he was jailed for four years.
Yafai was jailed for five years after pleading guilty to possession of a firearm.
Dc Edward Ketterer from 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.”
