A jury has found three men guilty of kidnapping and blackmailing a Plymouth chef. The jury unanimously found Abdul Hashem of Morley Road, London, Afshar Ali of Old Park Avenue, Canterbury and Rayhan Al Din, of Westrow Drive, Barking, guilty of the joint charge of the kidnap of Fokrul Islam on May 26, 2022 and guilty of three counts of blackmail on the same date.

A fourth man, Kamal Hussain, of Wenlock Street, London was jointly charged on all counts but is not present during the trial which has run for a little over three weeks at Plymouth Crown Court.

The court heard how on May 26, 2022 Hussain, having previously sent a series of messages back and forth with Mr Islam regarding the money, called upon the assistance of the three other men – Ali, Al Din and Hashem – and they had driven in a blue Peugeot hire car from the South East of England to Plymouth, with the intent of settling the matter. Phone records gathered by police showed how the car and the men had journeyed from Kent and London to Devon.