25 accused over illegal dog fight

Oct 3 2006 By Emma Cullwick, Birmingham Mail

TWENTY-FOUR men and a youth have appeared in court over allegations surrounding an alleged illegal dog fight in Birmingham.

Court staff struggled to find enough space and chairs to accommodate the accused as they appeared before Birmingham magistrates yesterday.

They spoke to confirm their name and date of birth during the preliminary hearing of the case, which has been brought by the animal charity the RSPCA.

Farid Mohammed, 26, Ikhlaq Mohammed, 28, Imran Arif, 28, Majid Musthtaq, 27, Nabeel Mohammed Safdar, 24, Sohail Hussain, 27, Ansar Ayub, 32, Asif Hussain, 33, Atif Farhan Tariq, 26, Amanat Ali, 40, Yasser Mohammed Khalid, 26, Zahir Ahmed, 30, Akil Habib Khan, 26, Naveed Arif, 32, Nisar Khan, 31, Sajid Saed Shah, 26, Sheraz Hassan, 27, Nadeem Arif, 33, and Basharat Ali, 33, are accused of being at a property in Alum Rock Road without reasonable excuse when dogs were placed together for the purpose of fighting.

Barkat Hussain, 41, Zahoor Ahmed Hussain, 41, Intikab Hussain, 30, and a 17-year-old youth face the same charge, as well as a charge of causing unnecessary suffering to two pit-bull terrier dogs by causing them to fight and another of causing, procuring or assisting at the fighting of two dogs.

Mamoon Iftikar Ahmed, 23, and Ummar Iftikar Ahmed, 25, are also jointly charged with assisting in the management of premises for dog fighting.

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