Birmingham kidnappers jailed for attacking and forcing teenage student to rob his own family

Three Birmingham men have been jailed for kidnapping a college student and forcing him to rob his own family home.

Brothers Ibrahim and Hassan Rauf captured the 18-year-old student on 8 May last year after Ibrahim lured him into a shop in Balsall Heath on the pretence of feeling faint and needing help.

Hassan, 22, was lying in wait armed with a knife and bundled the teenager into a Ford Fiesta where he was repeatedly punched and his phone stolen.

He was driven to the home of the Raufs in Yardley where the victim’s face was covered with a hood and − having been put into a Vauxhall Astra − driven to his own home and forced to help another unknown accomplice steal a camera, Asian gold and £2,000 in cash.

The student was eventually dropped off in a Hall Green park where Hassan, now joined by 24-year-old Hamza Yusuf, was again subjected to a flurry of punches and kicks.

West Midlands Police officers arrested the siblings from their home address two weeks later and seized CCTV showing Yusuf’s role in the kidnap and assault.

At Birmingham Crown Court on 4 December last year they were found guilty of kidnap, while Ibrahim was found guilty of a further charge of robbery and Hassan was found guilty of a further charges of robbery and conspiracy to burgle.

On 25 June, they were finally sentenced at the same court with 18-year-old Ibrahim Rauf of Fastpits Road in Yardley sentenced to four years; while Hamza Yusuf, aged 24, of Springfield Road, Moseley, was sentenced to six years.

Hassan, also of Fastpits Road, Yardley, is currently wanted for failing to appear at court and there is a warrant out for his arrest. He was sentenced in his absence to nine years.

Detective Craig Tennant from force CID, said, “This was very much an act of revenge: they believed the victim was involved in an earlier robbery in which Ibrahim Rauf’s phone was stolen.

“However, there was no evidence to suggest their claims were founded − and their reaction, kidnapping the teenager, attacking him, and threatening him with weapons, was totally unacceptable.

“There is never any excuse for people to take grievances into their own hands and carry out vigilante attacks − and anyone who does risks being jailed.”