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Man Jailed over Making 100 Fake Calls to Cops

On Monday, Birmingham Crown Court sentenced Zaynul Shaffi of Sparkbrook to three years for causing public nuisance through 122 hoax 999 calls. Shahid Khan of Bordsley Green will be sentenced at a later date.
During 2024 and 2025, Khan and Shaffi placed 122 false calls across 78 separate days, utilizing mobile phones and SIM cards while altering their voices to conceal their identities. They falsely reported shootings, drowned relatives, and abandoned infants on railway tracks.
Det Sgt Ross Somerfield of Birmingham CID noted the calls triggered immediate deployments of specialist firearms and drone units. Wasted emergency resources across the West Midlands cost an estimated $125,000.
Supt Sally Simpson, head of West Midlands Police Force Contact, stated: "Hoax calls are not victimless crimes." She emphasized they can prevent officers from reaching genuine emergencies in time.
Investigators linked the calls using sophisticated digital policing techniques after the men took pride in hiding their tracks. Shaffi had claimed, "They're not like us man, we do our thing undetected," before police identified the duo.

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