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Azmat Yaqub

Age: 35

Sex: male

Date: 29 Jul 2004

Place: Chic Physique Gym, Formans Road, Sparkhill

Azmat Yaqub was shot as he exercised at the Chic Physique Gym in Sparkhill.

He had been talking to some friends when two men, one white and one black, walked in and shot him at close range with a machine gun. They shot him in the head and chest. Witnesses said that they heard up to 10 shots fired. The gunmen then fled to a light-coloured BMW 5 Series car that was parked outside and drove off with a third man who was said to be black.

Police later said that they thought that his killers might have been hitmen from overseas.

The gym was said to have been packed at the time.

Several people were arrested in relation to his murder but released without charge.

It was the second attempt on his life. He had previously been shot about 18 months earlier, however, he had been wearing a bullet proof vest and only received slight injuries to his shoulder. He had been in a car with Shaham Ali in Waverley Road, Small Heath when someone in a Golf car drove up and fired at least three shots at them. Shaham Ali was shot in the head and later died in hospital.

The police said that his murder was a contract killing.

The first gunmen was described as white, aged 25-35, between 5ft 9ins and 6ft tall, with a medium build, a thin face, very short, almost balding, hair and had been clean shaven. He was said to have been wearing a baseball cap, dark coloured clothing and black-framed glasses with oval shaped lenses, possibly sunglasses. It was noted that he was thought to have had something on his chin, possibly either facial hair or a plaster covering something.

The second gunman was described as black, aged 25-35, between 5ft 10ins and 6ft tall, with a slim to medium build, short black hair and clean shaven. He was said to have been wearing a black baseball cap, dark coloured clothing and similar glasses to the first white man, possibly sunglasses.

The driver of the BMW car that they got away in was said to be a tall black man aged 30-35 with a large build, clean shaven and wearing dark clothing and sunglasses.

It was said that he might have been caught up in a row involving another man's love affair at the Birmingham Central Mosque or a dispute there between factions. Birmingham Central Mosque was described as Europe's largest Islamic centre.

The Chic Physique Gym later relocated.

Azmat Yaqub was known for training kick boxers at the gym.


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