Kim Bolan
Published: April 11, 2022
-Vancouver Sun
A high-ranking member of the Brothers Keepers gang who fled to the U.S. while a suspect in “multiple” murders in Canada has pleaded guilty in Seattle to armed robbery.
Naseem “Lil Man” Mohammed, who had been using the alias Mobert Ahmed, was sentenced Friday to 41 months in jail for pulling a gun on two strangers last fall.
King County Superior Court Judge Judge J. Michael Diaz accepted the sentence recommendation, which also includes 18 months of community release once Mohammed has completed his jail term.
Mohammed signed the plea agreement March 29, admitting he walked into a Seattle-area hookah lounge in November, brandished a Glock pistol and threatened to shoot two men if they didn’t give him their jewelry.
Details of the Mohammed’s conduct are laid out in the King County prosecuting attorney’s pre-sentence report, a copy of which was obtained by Postmedia.
King Country Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the Empire Hookah Lounge just after midnight Nov. 8 when other patrons called about a robbery in progress.
One of the victims told police at the scene that Mohammed made small talk at first, admitting he was from Canada and was using a fake name. He then pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the man’s chest, demanding his watch and ring. The victim then saw Mohammed aim the gun at another man and take his cellphone.
Witnesses said Mohammed waved the gun around as he threatened to shoot one of his victims.
Mohammed, now 24, told police after his arrest that his name was Mobert Ahmed. But a day later, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security received a tip about his true identity and later confirmed it was Mohammed by comparing fingerprint records provided by the RCMP.
Mohammed, who grew up in Surrey, has pleaded guilty to two felony charges — one count of first-degree robbery and one count of attempted robbery. He signed the court documents using his alias.
“My lawyer has explained to me and we have fully discussed all of the above paragraphs,” Mohammed said in the typed document, after a hand-written description of his crimes. “I understand them all. I’ve been given a copy of the ‘Statement of Defendant on Plea of Guilty.’ I have no further questions to ask the judge.”
Friday’s hearing lasted just 15 minutes.
Ten months before his arrest, Mohammed used another alias to sneak into Montana. He was caught with three other men near the border on Jan. 23, 2021. He told U.S. authorities he was an American named Bati Ahmed, although had no identification on him. They checked his fingerprints in their data bases but found no match, so let him go.
They later learned from Canadian authorities that he was a fugitive facing charges in B.C. and Ontario. A U.S. Federal Court affidavit filed in February by border patrol agent Seth Justesen said Mohammed is “a high-ranking member of the Brothers Keepers gang in Surrey, British Columbia.”
“Canadian authorities have advised that Mohammed is the primary suspect in multiple gang-related homicides spanning two provinces,” Justesen’s affidavit also said.
The document does not specify the killings allegedly committed by Mohammed, and homicide investigators in B.C. earlier declined to comment.
Mohammed is still facing charges in Montana of falsely claiming U.S. citizenship and making a false statement to a U.S. department or agency.
In Ontario, he has outstanding charges of unlawful confinement, assault, pointing a firearm, uttering death threats, theft and robbery dating back to December 2019. He was granted bail and ordered to live at his parents’ Surrey home. But when police did a curfew check in March 2020, he slammed the door and escaped, leading to B.C. charges of breaching a release order, wilfully resisting a peace officer and escaping lawfully custody.
