The moment a Glasgow shopkeeper filled up a petrol can to torch his family business in a failed insurance scam has been caught on camera.
Kasim Ahmed was caught on CCTV just half an hour before the major fire broke out at his mobile phone business, on Gallowgate, forcing neighbours to flee.
The bomb squad even had to be called out to check the shop over fears of explosives which turned out to be fireworks.
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The 34-year-old is facing jail alongside his brother Sahail, 38, for setting the fire on May 16, 2020 – a crime branded “idiotic” by prosecutors.
Jurors heard the family’s International Mobile Phone Centre had been hit financially by the covid lockdown that year.
The Ahmeds had denied deliberately starting a blaze in a bid to then claim insurance cash.
But Kasim getting caught on camera filling the petrol can led to them getting punished.
The duo was found guilty of a charge of being part of a fraudulent scheme after a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
The business – which sold phones and e-cigarettes – had been in the family for about 20 years.
Their father was said to have run the shop. When he left for Pakistan in 2020, the court heard Kasim took over, with Sahail described as the owner.
The plan apparently was for Kasim to hand over £300 a week in takings to help support their mother.
But Sahail, of Nitshill, told the trial: “There was a national lockdown so the shop should not have been trading. Things were quite tough and he [Kasim] had to give my mum money.”
Amid the financial struggles, the pair hatched a plan to get their hands on cash.
Prosecutor Lindsey Dalziel told jurors: “With little thought of the consequences or attention to detail, they moved items out of the shop in to cars, bought petrol, spread it and lit it.
“It was not the best-executed plan – in fact, it could properly be categorised as utterly idiotic.”
CCTV played a crucial role in snaring the Ahmeds. Kasim, of the city’s Gorbals, was clocked filling a fuel can at an Asda petrol station in Glasgow’s Parkhead, just a short distance from the shop.
He later claimed it was diesel for another car he had, although he did not know the registration.
The pair – along with a third brother Adum, 28 – were captured at the shop that afternoon
As the blaze took hold, residents who lived above were forced to flee while fire crews attended the scene.
Sahail was covered for loss of rental income and had business insurance. He went on to speak to Welsh and White insurance brokers to start a claim although initially gave the impression he had not been at the shop that day.
However, investigators concluded the blaze was deliberate with “multiple seats of fire” in the shop as well as the presence of petrol. It led to the arrest of the brothers.
Sahail denied knowing of any plan to torch the business.
He denied knowing of any plan to deliberately torch the business or that there was anything "untoward".
Sahail said he had told Kasim earlier that day that he had to "cough up" with cash to their mother, but that he "did not have the money".
He added: "The mood at the meeting was quite tense. Myself and Adum were saying you have to pay, you have the shop."
Adum had faced the same charge but jurors returned a not proven verdict. Sahail and Kasim had their bail continued pending sentencing next month.
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