Zahid Khan’s trial was due to conclude at Birmingham Crown Court the 31-year-old fled the country and left his family, including his own brothers, to take the rap for his crimes.
Zahid Khan was the high-profile ringleader of a group – including brothers and cousin that stole the rights to high-value personalised plates.
Zahid Khan, who was granted bail by a judge, skipped the country.
Zahid Khan sold the 2K plate for £85,000 to an unwitting customer and was in the process of cashing in on the others having approached a specialist Black Country dealer offering 8G and 9H for sale.
They provisionally agreed a price until a salesman contacted a past customer to see if they’d be interested in buying 8G – only to be told they already owned the plate and it was adorning a car on their driveway!
Investigating officer, Detective Constable Rob Piper from West Midlands Police’s Economic Unit, said: “We are working with the Home Office and Interpol to trace Khan and bring him to justice. But I would also urge Zahid Khan to do the honourable thing and surrender to police, instead of letting his loved ones do the time for his crimes.”
Det Con Piper added: “Zahid Khan portrayed the image of a legitimate businessman and a multi-millionaire…but in reality he is a career criminal and a con artist.
“He and his family and associates clearly thought they’d identified a scheme that could make them huge sums of money: the five VRMs they stole the rights for had a combined value of half a million pounds. But we uncovered the scam before he was able to cash in.
“Khan’s Ferrari was seized and crushed. It had previously been written off but was illegally recovered, repaired and put back on the road. It was unsafe and potentially a danger to road users.”
Zahid Khan also admitted three counts of fraudulently obtaining car insurance and was convicted on a fourth count he’d denied.
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