THREE Somali drug dealers who admitted the machine-gun killing of a rival in Edinburgh have been jailed for life.
By: Rod Mills –
Mohamud Mohamud, 30, Cadil Huseen, 23, and Hussein Ali, 26, were yesterday sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in jail for killing Mohammed Abdi, 25, after a late-night car chase in a leafy suburb of the Capital.
At the High Court in Glasgow, Lord Turnbull said they were engaged in a “wholly corrupt lifestyle” and were prepared to “engage in violence of an extreme nature.”
He added: “This is a level of criminality seldom seen in our country and mercifully so.”
Commenting on the killers’ Somali background, Lord Turnbull said: “It is very disappointing to realise that you abused the opportunity of a new life free from the violence and oppression which your parents sought to escape.”
Mohamud and Ali showed little emotion as they were taken down. Husseen smiled and gave a thumbs-up.
In the run-up to the murder, a Somalian crime network with London connections was operating in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Huseen and Ali were involved in large-scale drug dealing with Mohamud, a close associate. There were claims Huseen and Ali earned £15,000 a week and downed £100 bottles of vodka and cognac in nightclubs.
Mr Abdi had been close to the group but set up a rival gang. His move sparked tit-for-tat incidents leading up to the fatal shooting in Duddingston on May 26 last year.
Two days earlier, a friend of Huseen and Ali sent a message to an associate of Mr Abdi warning: “The guns are coming out.”
The groups clashed after a high-speed car chase through Edinburgh. Five shots were fired from the machine-gun, three hitting Mr Abdi.Mr Abdi’s friend, Mohammed El-Halili, recalled “flashes” before finding the victim in a pool of blood. He told the jury that Mr Abdi had just gone past his car “with a big smile on his face”.
Mohamud was caught at the scene.Huseen and Ali both fled but were tracked down later.
Four other men, Ahmed Ahmed, 28, Liban Ahmed, 30, Said Fadal, 32, and Said Tarabi, 27, had been accused of murder, but their not guilty pleas were accepted.
Police Scotland said the investigation cost £323,486 and was the most expensive since the start of the single force.
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