An armed raider who terrorised shopkeepers with a fake firearm in separate supermarket robberies was snared when police spotted his wife’s car at the scene of both crimes.
Imran Mahmood, 40, of Edgbaston Road, Smethwick , was jailed for 15 years after admitting the double raid at shops close to his home earlier this year. He was detained when police combing CCTV footage eyed his wife’s Toyota near the stores after the two robberies in two days.
In the first raid, masked Mahmood burst into Windmill News and Booze on January 29 and threatened the shopkeeper with an imitation revolver-style handgun and demanded cash.
The following afternoon, he brandished the same weapon at a shopkeeper in Portland Road, Edgbaston , before demanding money. He pulled the trigger setting off a loud bang and releasing a puff of smoke causing the store worker to fear for his life.
