London: A man who killed another man during a failed robbery and then fled to Pakistan to avoid capture has been sentenced to life in prison in the UK.

In 2016, while he and three other people Suraj Misty, 26, Lamar Wali, 23, and Sander van Aalten, 54—attempted to rob Javeed's food warehouse in Birmingham, Tahir Zarif, 31, from Derby, shot Akhtar Javeed, 56.

One of the four knew the layout of the warehouse from prior employment there. Javeed was dragged to his safe, where Zarif shot him in the leg to force him to open it. The workers at the site were then tied up.

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Javeed eventually freed himself, but Zarif retaliated by shooting him in the chest and throat as he tried to flee. Javeed eventually collapsed after stumbling out of the warehouse and into the street.

Zarif departed the UK for Pakistan five days later. Two years after his arrest in Mirpur in 2018, he was extradited. Later, video footage of Zarif firing a machine gun while fleeing in Pakistan surfaced. Additional footage captured him grinning as he was formally apprehended by UK police on board his extradition flight to London.

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Despite Zarif's claims that Javeed's death was an accident, the Coventry Crown Court sentenced him to a minimum of 30 years in prison for his "clear willingness to use the gun" and "intention to kill."

2016 saw the conviction and sentencing of his fellow robbers. Misty received a 23-year sentence for manslaughter, while Van Aalten and Wali received seven- and six-year sentences, respectively, for conspiring to commit robbery.

Following Zarif's sentencing, Javeed's daughter spoke to the media while requesting anonymity and said: "It's been six years and nine months since Tahir Zarif took my father's life.

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Since then, we have thought about my father every day. My father was an honourable gentleman, as I've said before.

"My father's wrongful death was caused by another man's greed. We appreciate the West Midlands Police's dedication to seeing that justice is done.