American ‘hijab killer’ detained after gun jammed, now free, prosecutors say

An American hitman disguised as a hijab whose gun jammed during a murder attempt in Britain remains at large after returning to the US, prosecutors say.

Aimee Betro, 44, was recruited by British father and son Mohammed Nazir, 30, and Mohammed Aslam, 56, to take revenge on Aslat Mahamud and his relatives following an altercation in a jewellery shop in 2018 that left both father and son injured.

Betro, who is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, allegedly flew in from Chicago in connection with the contract killing in Acocks Green, Birmingham, on September 7, 2019, after arranging to meet Mahamud’s son, shop owner Sikander Ali, to view a Volkswagen Golf the family were selling, Birmingham Crown Court was told, but the attempted shooting did not go to plan.

Betro, wearing a hijab, “calmly” approached Ali and pointed the gun at his head, the court heard. But when she tried to pull the trigger, the gun jammed and Ali fled the scene.

The next morning, Betro allegedly went to Mahamud’s house and opened fire three times, then texted Mahamud: “Stop playing hide and seek” and “Where are you hiding?” the court was told. No one was injured.

Betro later allegedly sent Aslat Mahamud another message in which he wrote: “You want to cheat me, you want to be a drug kingpin, go and look at your house. I’ll show you. Look after yourself. I will shed blood soon.”

The 44-year-old is said to have returned to Chicago two days later and is still at large in the US, where an international manhunt is ongoing.

If Betro is arrested in the US, it is unclear whether she will be extradited to the UK to face possible charges.

Under the US-UK extradition treaty, the UK must prove that a crime has been committed under US and UK law, as well as provide evidence showing “reasonable” proof of guilt, in order for a US citizen to be extradited to the US.

Betro social media posts reported by Timesappear to indicate that she documented her trip to the UK from August to September 2019 in great detail.

In one Instagram post, he appears to talk about visiting his “partner in crime” in Manchester. In another post from the day before the first attempted shooting, Betro poses for a photo with devil horns.

In other entries, he talks about participating in the Tranzmission Festival at Crystal Palace in London and about a boat trip on the Thames.

While in London she stayed at a number of hotels in Birmingham, Brighton, Derby and Manchester, and on one occasion stayed at the Raddison Blue Hotel.

Betro is not a professional hitman. She apparently works as a freelance graphic designer and studied early childhood education at Mid-State Technical College in Wisconsin, graduating in 2005, and then worked as an administrator for the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team. In 2003, she wrote a letter to a local newspaper in which she advocated for free contraception for women.

Nazir and Aslam, from Derby, were last week found guilty of conspiracy to murder for their roles in the attempted murder.

Nazir was also found guilty of possessing a firearm with intent to create fear of violence, obstructing the course of justice and illegally importing a firearm with the intent to bring the weapons into the country and then pin the blame on another person to frame him. Aslam was acquitted of the firearm possession charge.

The convictions came after the court heard Nazir and Aslam had harbored a grudge against Ali’s family following a violent dispute at his boutique clothing store in Birmingham, central England, on July 21, 2018.

In the brutal incident, Nazir and Aslam were injured, their shop’s windows were smashed and the interior was “destroyed”.

To exact revenge, the pair allegedly flew Betro from the States to Birmingham to kill Ali and his family.

According to prosecutors, on September 6, Nazir and Aslam traveled from their home in Derby to Birmingham city center, where they spent more than two hours in a hotel with Betro, who had ordered a takeaway from Deliveroo.

Betro apparently arranged to meet Ali the next day on the pretext of buying a car.

Birmingham Crown Court heard that Betro – dressed in a hijab – drove up in a Mercedes and Ali pulled up nearby in an Audi.

Kevin Hegarty KC, prosecuting, said: “While he was doing this, the potential killer exited the car from the driver’s side of the Mercedes.

“When she got out of the Mercedes, she left the driver’s door open. She walked up to Sikander Ali quite calmly and pointed the gun at him at head level.

“When she approached Sikander Ali, he saw her, saw the gun, and she pulled the trigger to shoot him. Luckily for him, the gun jammed.

Hegarty said Ali quickly reversed his car and drove away, while Betro reportedly abandoned her Mercedes nearby – where police later found it.

Nazir flew to America a few days later, a few days after Betro, whom he listed as his contact point on his travel documents, but was arrested on his return to the UK the following month. Aslam was also arrested.

Detective Inspector Matt Marston, of West Midlands Police, said they were both “determined to take revenge”.

“The measures they have taken to make sure they are not involved in pulling the trigger are enormous,” he added.

“However, thanks to some excellent police work and the support of our colleagues in Derbyshire, we managed to put them right in the middle of an attempted murder plot.”

Independent contacted the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI for comment.