word reply when police asked what his job was

A teenage criminal dubbed the "not so Artful Dodger" by his own defence solicitor was asked by police what his job was, only to confess "I sell weed". Ahmed Mohammed was caught importing up to £420,000 of cannabis into the UK on a flight from Hong Kong. Months later, he and four friends, Ayuub Hassan, Hussein Hassan, Abdullahi Osman and Mohamed Yusuf, who had apparently travelled to Merseyside from London in order to "go clubbing" instead snatched mobile phones from unsuspecting victims. The gang acted together as a team by hugging and distracting their "easy prey" before taking their devices on Mathew Street and Bold Street . Liverpool Crown Court heard this afternoon, Wednesday, that one of the victims, Daniel Hobart, left the Grapes pub on Mathew Street in Liverpool city centre with his brother at around 2.45am on January 11 this year when a group of three men approached them and began speaking to them. During this conversation, the complainant removed his mobile phone from his pocket, at which stage he recalled that one of the males snatched the device from his hand before running away in the direction of the Met Quarter. Cheryl Mottram, prosecuting, described how CCTV footage showed Hussein Hassan speaking with Mr Hobart before being joined by Osman. Mohammed and Ayuub Hassan were meanwhile seen standing nearby before the former "joined the conversation". With Mr Hobart having then handed him his phone "to look at", he instead ran away with the mobile. Osman was meanwhile shown hugging the victim moments beforehand, with Ms Mottram putting to the court that he was "perhaps distracting him, giving Mr Mohammed the opportunity to make off with the mobile phone". Around an hour later, the same group then approached another man, Tulio Xavier, who had become separated from his friends, leaving him alone near to Coyote Ugly on Bold Street. Two males then similarly began speaking to him, with one having attempted to "show him his Instagram page" on the victim's phone. While Mr Xavier attempted to "keep a tight hold of his device", a third man then snatched his mobile from him and ran away. Although the complainant did attempt to give chase, he "soon lost sight of him". This second incident was again captured on CCTV, which showed Osman and Hussein Hassan initially approaching Mr Xavier, with Ayuub Hassan and Mohammed seen nearby. With Yusuf having joined the former two co-defendants in the conversation, Osman was shown "seeming to give a signal" to Mohammed, who then took the phone, pulling at the victim as he did so. Mr Xavier subsequently reported the incident to a police officer on duty in the city centre, leading to Osman being located standing near to a parked BMW car, at which stage he stated that he had "driven up from London to go clubbing in Liverpool". Yusuf was also arrested in the vicinity, with the remaining three defendants being found inside the vehicle, which had been hired by Hassan the previous month and was due to be returned the same day, after PCs were alerted to their presence by the alarm being set off. The phones of both victims were then found in Mohammed's shoes following a search. It came after the 19-year-old, of Colton Road in Belle Vale , had previously been spotted "behaving in a suspicious way" in the London Road area on June 19 last year. Having attempted to run away, Mohammed was detained and found in possession of cash, a mobile phone which "appeared to be very active" and two bags of cannabis worth around £120. Messages later recovered from the device were said to have been indicative of his involvement in the supply of class B drugs, while, upon being asked by the custody sergeant what his job was, he replied: "I sell weed." Mohammed was earlier handed a 46-week imprisonment suspended for two years for being concerned in the evasion on the prohibition of cannabis in November 2025. This saw the teen arrive at London Heathrow Airport in August 2025, having flown from Bangkok via Hong Kong. However, Mohammed was then stopped by Border Force, with his suitcase subsequently found to contain 26 vacuum packed packages of cannabis. These class B drugs weighed a total of 18kg, being worth around £56,000 at wholesale but having an estimated street value of £420,000. Matthew O'Neill, defending, told the court: "He moved to Liverpool in 2019 to live with his father. He completed his GCSEs, but, unfortunately, found himself mixing with the wrong crowd. The level of immaturity can be evidenced by his comment in the custody suite. "Clearly, this was group activity. The two complainants were out in the city centre, having consumed alcohol. My client, perhaps, was the not so Artful Dodger of the group. He was the one who took the phones and ran away and, not long thereafter, was apprehended by the police. The phones were recovered. "He has been in custody since the 12th of January this year, coming up to seven months in custody. He has used that time extremely positively in the hope that, once he is released, he can lead a law-abiding life. He tells me that he has completed a number of courses. Hopefully, this has been a learning curve for Mr Mohammed. He tells me that this will be the last time he appears before these courts." Ayuub Hassan, of Rousay Drive in Edgware, has a total of 12 previous convictions for 24 offences, most recently receiving a community order for possession of cannabis and nitrous oxide earlier this year. Matthew Stewart said on behalf of the 31-year-old: "He was simply present in the vicinity, but accepts his responsibility by way of joint enterprise. He is remorseful. "Mr Hassan lives with his mother and two brothers. A change this year for Mr Hassan is that their mother suffered a fall and lost the use of her right arm, suffering from significant nerve damage. He is in the process of applying for carers allowance in order to assist her. He supports his mother by way of cooking, cleaning and showering etc. "He left school when he was 16 with no qualifications, therefore struggling with employment. By way of his health, he is blind in his right eye. He has issues with his leg, suffering nerve damage as a result of an accident which he was a passenger in and also has a plate in his right arm and a diagnosis of ADHD from when he was younger. "Substance misuse is clearly an issue, given his record, an issue with cannabis and nitrous. He tells me that he has managed to get clean off those drugs, part and parcel of being a better carer for his mother." Hussein Hassan, of Kingston Square in Norwood, has two earlier convictions for three offences, including receiving a community order for attempted theft in September 2025. It came after the 25-year-old formed part of a group of four men who tried to snatch another man's mobile phone. His barrister Peter Wilson said: "The thrust of the mitigation is really Mr Hassan's desire to get back to his family, to get back to his father and mother to provide that respite care for his father and support for his mother. He is ashamed of his actions when his family are already going through enough. "That is why, in custody, he has used his time to do his maths course and is now wanting to work towards his CSCS course. He says that he wants to get back to work and open his own business eventually. "Mr Hassan's behaviour over the past year really smacks of immaturity and stupidity when he knows what his family are going through. He fell into depression and anxiety when his mother was first diagnosed with her illness. It seems that he has struggled to pull himself out of that. "The first time he has been in custody is this. It has been an eye-opening experience. He has served the best part of the equivalent of a 20-month sentence." Yusuf's criminal record shows a total of 17 previous convictions for 29 offences. The 23-year-old, of Capitol Way in Edgware, received 14 months for robbery in October 2023 following the theft of a necklace before being handed a further seven weeks in May 2024 after he and an accomplice stole a man's phone in a "distraction theft". In June 2025, Yusuf was then locked up for 46 weeks for another theft from person offence. His counsel Craig Crosbie added in mitigation: "He was up in Liverpool clubbing with his friends. "His offending is obviously aggravated by his previous convictions. This is the fourth similar snatch offence in five years, so he is not very good at it. It may be the time this is going to be when he is going to change his life around. "His fiancée is expecting a baby in mid-to-late August, which is his first child. Maybe that will make a difference. I ask your honour to keep his sentence as short as possible and give him time served." Osman, of Poynders Road in Clapham, also fell to be sentenced for possession of a bladed article in a public place after the 25-year-old was stopped as a passenger in a car near to Tooting Market by police investigating a robbery and was found with a silver lock knife. He was earlier handed a 24-month imprisonment suspended for two years for attempted robbery in November 2023, relating to the attempted theft of a watch from a man. Defence barrister Paul Wood said: "The defendant has had a very tough upbringing, having moved from Somalia when he was eight or nine years of age. He moved to a very tough area of South London. "His father played very little role in his life. He is one of four children. Surprisingly, when one looks at the offences he has committed, he is a bright young man. He has got two A-levels. He is articulate. He can make something of himself and, quite frankly, he needs to start afresh when he comes out, because he has some ability. "He worked consistently for Uber Eats for a number of years prior to his incarceration. He hopes to go back to that. He hopes to complete an IT apprenticeship when he is released from custody." Mohammed admitted two counts of theft, battery, being concerned in the supply of cannabis and cannabis resin and breaching a suspended sentence order. Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool, he was handed a total of 22 months in a young offenders' institute. Hussein Hassan pleaded guilty to two charges of theft and breaching a community order. Similarly appearing remotely from Walton prison, he was jailed for a total of 16 months. Yusuf admitted two matters of theft and was also imprisoned for 16 months. Osman pleaded guilty to two offences of theft, possession of a bladed article in a public place and breaching a suspended sentence order and received a total of two years and two months. Ayuub Hassan also admitted two charges of theft. He was handed a 14-month imprisonment suspended for 18 months with a three-month electronically monitored curfew and a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 20 days. Sentencing, Judge Katherine Pierpoint said: "The four of you travelled up from London to Liverpool. You met up with Ahmed Mohammed. All five of you were out in the city centre. All five of you were then involved in thefts of mobile phones from two separate victims. "This was planned activity and, in my judgement, your victims were targeted as you perceived them to be easy prey, either because they were intoxicated or on their own. There is no evidence that you travelled up from London with that intention, but the cameras showed that you were all acting together. "You, Mr Mohammed, actually physically took the phones out of the hands of your victims. You all accept involvement either in seeking to befriend the victims or by distracting or, by your presence, supporting what was going on. "This is clearly a case where you deliberately targeted vulnerable victims. There was clearly some degree of planning here. The five of you were acting together as a group to commit these two separate offences. "It may be that a number of you are now released immediately from custody. That is a matter for the prison service."