Two brothers from Beckenham have been jailed for a honeytrap kidnap plot in which a stranger was ambushed outside a Nando’s in Lewisham, held hostage at gunpoint for nearly six and a half hours, and threatened with execution by sunrise unless a £30,000 ransom was paid.
Bilal Rakik was sentenced to seven years and two months in prison, while his brother Zachariya Rakik received seven years and one month. The pair were jailed at Woolwich Crown Court, where Judge Martin Yale said they carried out the planned abduction strictly for financial gain.
The honeytrap
The court heard how the brothers created a fraudulent profile on the video chat app Azar, using a photograph of an attractive woman, to lure their victim, Ali Almafraji, to the Nando’s on Lewisham High Street at about 10pm on 10 September 2023. Mr Almafraji had never met the brothers; they had targeted him, a mutual acquaintance of a friend, in the belief that he was wealthy.
When he arrived, the profile had been deleted, and he concluded the meeting had been cancelled. Moments later, Bilal and Zachariya Rakik climbed into his car wearing surgical gloves and balaclavas. Judge Yale said the brothers began a “terrifying ordeal” by brandishing a “very realistic imitation of a semi-automatic handgun”, pressing it against Mr Almafraji’s back while threatening to shoot him.
Six-and-a-half-hour ordeal
The brothers drove Mr Almafraji around south-east London while repeatedly demanding a £30,000 ransom. When he said he did not have the money, they unlocked his mobile phone and called four of his friends to demand payment, warning that he would be killed if the full amount was not delivered before daybreak.
In one call to a friend, the brothers said:
“Listen right now, if the morning light shines on me, it’s the last. Don’t even call.”
In another call they warned:
“When the dim light shines, just know that don’t try to call. When the dim light starts shining, just think of us. It’s finished.”
Flying Squad rescue in Ladywell
The victim’s friends contacted police immediately and supplied the vehicle’s registration details. The Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad, the specialist branch trained in armed surveillance and high-risk tactical interventions, took over the case.
Officers traced Mr Almafraji’s car to the Bell Green Retail Park in Sydenham and kept it under surveillance as it moved towards Maylons Road in Ladywell. With dawn approaching, they decided at 4.20am that immediate intervention was needed to save the victim’s life.
Judge Yale described the rescue in court:
“They had to act urgently as it was 4.20am and dawn was approaching. The Flying Squad then made its move. The car was forced to stop and armed officers stormed it, smashing the glass and dragging Mr Almafraji out to safety.”
He added:
“I pay tribute to the extraordinary work of the Flying Squad which showed skill, speed, efficiency and most of all, bravery.”
Sentencing
Both brothers had no previous criminal convictions and had been in custody since their arrest at the scene in September 2023. They pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges, firearm possession and blackmail.
The sentences follow other lengthy custodial terms handed down in London, including a Deliveroo worker jailed for 21 years for raping a woman at a London bus stop.
The defence argued both men were deeply remorseful and had learned a profound lesson during their time on remand. But Judge Yale emphasised the planned and calculated nature of the offence, the psychological distress inflicted on the victim over almost six and a half hours, and the realistic nature of the imitation firearm used throughout.
Reporting based on southlondonnews.co.uk (19 September 2026), whose court reporting is credited to Jonathan Mitchell of the News Shopper.
