Failed West Bromwich hitman jailed after partner in crime accidentally shot him
A shooting victim ended up being charged with gun and drugs offences
A would-be hitman has been jailed after he was accidentally shot and injured by his partner in crime while they were arranging to attack someone.
Asad Khan, then aged 22, and Adam Liaqat, then aged 19, both of West Bromwich, were parked up in St Paul’s Road, Smethwick, just before 4.30am on November 23 last year and planning a shooting when their own gun went off.
Car driver Liaqat had fired the gun by mistake resulting in his passenger and accomplice Khan sustaining serious leg injuries.
Khan, of Lones Road, caught a taxi to hospital and initially did not explain what had happened, but detectives based at West Midlands Police’s major crime team launched an investigation unravelled exactly what happened. The officers discovered that the red Mitsubishi the pair were sitting in at the time of the incident had been stolen from Newhall Road, Rowley Regis the previous evening.
Khan was subsequently arrested at a later date and his mobile phone seized and checked. Officers then discovered a message between him and someone else which indicated he and Liaqat were on their way to conduct a shooting before their own mishap occurred.
Liaqat was arrested December, 2025 following a pursuit involving a silver Honda Accord. On that occasion his passenger was Yakuba Sawaneh, aged 20, of Perry Common, Birmingham. Class A drugs and a burner phone were thrown from the windows during the police chase which came to an end in Oldbury.
On Friday Khan and Sawaneh were sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court for their misdemeanours by Judge Robert Talog-Davies who said he was taking the firearms matter as the lead offence. He told Khan: “You knew what you were doing that night and you you that it was wrong. I have looked at the reports and that you had longstanding ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and trauma - ADHD doesn't remove responsibility for actions. It is mitigation, but doesn't reduce culpability.”
Following a trial in May at Wolverhampton Crown Court Khan, now aged 23, of Lones Road, West Bromwich, was found guilty of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and possession of class A drugs. Sawaneh, now aged 20, of Perry Common, was found guilty of possession of class A drugs with intent to supply.
The judge jailed Khan, for a total of 13 years, and sentenced Sawaneh to youth detention for three-and-a-half-years.
Liaqat, of Middlemore Road, West Bromwich, who was found guilty of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and possession of class A drugs with intent to supply will be sentenced at a later date. He also pleaded guilty to driving offences relating to the case.
Crack cocaine and heroin wraps with an estimated street value of more than £3,000 were seized during the investigation.