Machine gun horror: man on death charge

AN Oldham businessman faces a murder charge after allegedly supplying a sub-machine gun used to kill a Salford shopkeeper.

Arfan Rafiq of Villa Road, Hathershaw, is charged under a “joint enterprise” charge of murder and possession of a firearm following the killing of shopkeeper Nasar Shazad in July 2009 at an off-licence in Eccles. He pleads not guilty.

Rafiq aroused police suspicion when he was arrested on a separate matter. An image of the machine gun and ammunition was found on his mobile phone.

Rafiq made no comment during questioning about the images and was bailed. It was claimed at Manchester Crown Court that during the following two days Rafiq used a friend’s phone to contact Mohammed Hafiz, a gang lord who planned to shoot a member of an opposition gang in Bolton.

Michael Shorrock QC, prosecuting, said Rafiq made arrangements with Hafiz for a CZ25 machine gun to be given to gunman Simeon Henderson — since found guilty of the murder ad given a life sentence, as was Hafiz.

After the killing, Hednerson’s getaway driver Ryan Manning dropped his passenger with taxi driver Akmal Afzal before carrying on to Oldham, where he dumped the weapon under a car in Hinton Street, then headed home to High Ince and set the car on fire.

The weapon was found the following morning by a member of the public and identified as the one in the pictures on Rafiq’s confiscated phone.

Mr Shorrock said that before the shooting, Rafiq installed a sim card using a number ending in ‘576’ to a phone used to call Hafiz. After the shooting, more calls were made between Hafiz and the number - though Rafiq’s defence claims he never used this phone.

Rafiq was arrested in the early hours of July 5 and was in possession of a telephone that contained the ‘576” sim card.

Manning (22) and Afzal (25) have also been convicted of various offences.

The case continues


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