Sheffield man who stored guns for gang was “the chump left with a bag of drugs”

Hamza Mohammed's aunt raised the alarm after she discovered a .44 Smith & Wesson revolver loaded with four bullets hidden under some wood in an alleyway beside his home on Staniforth Road on New Year's Eve 2019.

Mohammed struggled with his uncle, who had discovered a loaded .22 Rimfire pistol, which was "very small and easily concealable," nearby.

Officers discovered a sawn-off 12-gauge shotgun with one cartridge in a shed, and nine 9mm rounds in his bedroom.

Prosecutor David Ward said he was part of a "guns, drugs and gang scene."

The court heard Mohammed was earlier spotted in a Ford Focus that was followed by police at 3.15am on November 15.

After a short chase, he decamped with four others and threw away a bag, which in addition to his licence and other documents, contained £830 of MDMA, cocaine, and cannabis.

Three mobile phones showed he was involved in dealing, Mr Ward added.

The court heard he has one previous conviction for a violent offence, and he was on bail for the drugs offence when the weapons were discovered.

Richard Holland, mitigating, said Mohammed was 19 at the time, and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

"He is sorry and remorseful for what he has done," he said. "The defendant is the chump left with the bag of drugs. He was not in charge of the whole enterprise."

Mr Holland said Mohammed was bullied at school because of his learning difficulties and was "abnormally compliant" and "easily exploitable." He suffered a “significant bereavement” when a close friend was killed in a car crash aged 20.

Mohammed, 20, of Staniforth Road, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply the Class A and B drugs, and possession of the firearms.

Judge David Dixon said "the plethora of firearms and ammunition was very worrying" and told Mohammed he could be facing 15 years, just for the gun offences.

But bearing in mind his mitigation, and the totality of the offending, the judge sentenced him to a total of seven and a half years.

Read the latest cases from Sheffield Crown Court here.

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