Six guilty of burglary after raid on Black Country cannabis factory which saw two killed with crossbow

Hisham Lewis, Ammaid Said, Micah Evans, Billal Akram, Amir Nasir and Kadeem Palmer have all been found guilty of burglary at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

They were part of a gang that coordinated an attack on a cannabis factory in Brierley Hill in the early hours of February 20, 2020.

The six were found not guilty of aggravated burglary.

Lewis, aged 24, of Grove Avenue, Selly Oak; Said, aged 26, Edward Road, Balsall Heath, Evans, aged 23 of Foster Avenue, Bilston;

Nasiri aged 25, Boyne Road, Birmingham; Akram, aged 28 of Buffrey Road, Dudley and Palmer, aged 22, of Stanford Road, Handsworth were all bailed.

They will be sentenced next week.

Seventeen men have been convicted in the investigation into a string of burglary offences which culminated in the murder of two men in February 2020.

Three men were jailed for life in February 2021 after killing 19-year-old Khuzaimiah Douglas and 36-year-old Waseem Ramzan while trying to protect their cannabis grow at the factory in Pensnett Road.

Waseem Ramzan was the brother of Saghawat Ramzan who was jailed alongside his son Omar Ramzan and Mohammed Sageer. Khuzaimiah Douglas was one of the group attempting to raid the property. Waseem and Khuzaimiah both died from crossbow injuries.

Prior to the murders, an investigation was already underway following a series of burglaries and attempted burglaries in the early hours of 17 December 2019.

The organised crime group committing the offences were targeting cannabis factories, often with the aid of a thermal imaging gun. Another tactic saw them following likely cannabis farmers from hydroponic retailers back to where there was a likely grow.

On February 20 2021 just before 2am a property on Milton Street in Walsall was raided and several men were seen removing a number of bags into vehicles. The remnants of 93 cannabis plants were left behind.

At 3.30am the cannabis grow over three floors in Pensnett Road, Brierley Hill was attacked, but the gang hadn’t reckoned on the homeowners being ready to fight back with weapons, and they found themselves cornered inside. Fighting their way our through a front window, they made off,losing one of their number – Khuzaimiah Douglas.