DNA of murder-plot defendant 'on gun parts'

Aimee Betro denies conspiracy to murder

The DNA of an American alleged to have been involved in a failed assassination bid was found on gun parts illegally sent to the UK, a court heard.

Aimee Betro, 45, is alleged to have flown from Wisconsin as part of a plot by co-conspirators Mohammed Aslam and Mohammed Nabil Nazir, of Derby, to attack a rival family in 2019.

Ms Betro, who has pleaded not guilty, was wearing a niqab when she tried to shoot Sikander Ali in Measham Grove, Birmingham, but the gun jammed, a court heard.

The prosecution said she had been involved in one of Nazir's plots when she is alleged to have sent three parcels of ammunition and gun parts on 16 October 2019, a month after the attack.

Ms Betro is alleged to have fired three shots into Mr Ali's house, which was empty, in the early hours of 8 September before leaving the UK and flying back to the US.

Birmingham Crown Court was told father and son Aslam, 56, and Nazir, 31, from Elms Avenue, who were jailed last year for their part in the plot, were involved in a feud with Mr Ali's father, Aslat Mahumad.

'Devious scheme'

It heard the parts, which were wrapped in foil and paper inside three cardboard boxes, were addressed to a man named Faris Quayum, from Derby, with Nazir tipping off police with intent to frame him.

While the packages were intercepted and Mr Quayum was arrested as part of Nazir's "devious scheme", prosecution counsel Tom Walkling KC said Nazir's involvement in the plan eventually came to light.

Mr Walkling said a woman, who the prosecution say was Betro, was seen at a post office 100 miles away from her home address in the US posting the parcels under a fake name.

He said: "In the case of each of those three packages, Aimee Betro's DNA has been found on the gun parts and ammunition inside them."

Ms Betro was allegedly in Armenia when Nazir was jailed for 32 years and Aslam for 10 years in November.

She denies conspiracy to murder, possessing a self-loading pistol and a charge of fraudulently evading the prohibition on importing ammunition.

The trial continues.