The Birmingham men whose hoax 999 calls wasted £100,000 in emergency resources
Both men convicted after making 122 fake emergency calls
Two men from Birmingham have been convicted for making over 100 hoax 999 calls, costing the public approximately £100,000 in wasted emergency resources.
Shahid Khan, aged 31, and Zaynul Shaffi, 44, were found responsible for 122 calls over 78 days in 2024 and 2025.
Using different handsets and SIM cards, they altered their accents to attempt to evade detection.
The calls made by the duo included false claims about being shot, drowning a pregnant wife and family, and leaving a baby on train tracks.
In a specific call in August 2024, a report of a baby named Josh being left on train tracks led to nearly 20 police vehicles and over 30 officers being deployed.
During the incident, Shaffi texted Khan about the helicopter dispatched, to which Khan requested a video.
Detective Sergeant Ross Somerfield from Birmingham CID highlighted that the calls, often sinister in nature, demanded immediate responses from specialist police units.
The misuse of resources impacted the police's ability to respond to genuine emergencies.
Shaffi, residing on Barrows Road, Birmingham, admitted to causing a public nuisance and received a three-year jail sentence on 7th April at Birmingham Crown Court.
Meanwhile, Khan of Whichford Grove, deemed unfit to stand trial, was found by a jury to have committed the acts charged.
He will be sentenced at a later date.
Chief Superintendent Sally Simpson of the Force Contact department stressed that hoax calls have real consequences and warned that those responsible face potential jail time.
“We work 24/7 to respond to the public and provide the best service possible. Anyone who deliberately tries to stop us from doing that should know that we will take action, and as this case shows, they face the possibility of jail time,” Simpson said.