HITWOMAN IN A HIJAB: UK cops hunt alleged freelance female assassin

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The job was simple: Take the clothing store owner off the board.

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A 44-year-old American woman who works for the Milwaukee Brewers is accused of donning a hijab disguise and attempting to murder a British clothier in a contract hit.

And cops in the UK say Aimee Betro would have gotten away with it if her gun hadn’t jammed.

Detectives believe that Betro lived a secret double life as a freelance assassin.

In Birmingham, businessman Sikander Ali was targeted for death on the orders of arch-rival Mohammed Aslam, 56, and his son Mohammed Nazir, 30.

A trial in the UK heard that the alleged triggerwoman worked by day as an office manager for the Brewers. On Sept. 7, 2019, she was in the UK dressed in a hijab as she waited for Ali outside his house.

But when her gun jammed, the shooter fled. Later, she returned in a black cab and squeezed off three shots in the house.

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Betro then allegedly texted the principal target: “Stop playing hide and seek. Where are you hiding?”

According to prosecutors, Betro boarded a flight back to the U.S. two days after the botched rubout. She has not been seen since.

On Monday, Nazir and Aslam were found guilty of conspiracy.

Cops say the pair held a deep grudge against Ali’s family in the wake of a violent dispute on July 21, 2018 at his boutique clothing shop that saw windows smashed and the interior “trashed.”

In September 2019, the pair say they flew the flaxen-haired hitwoman to the UK. Betro stayed in hotels in Manchester, Derby, London, Brighton and Birmingham posing as a tourist.

Ali agreed to meet her at a local hotel. She was disguised in a hijab and arrived in a Mercedes while Ali pulled up in an Audi.

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“As he did, the would-be assassin came from the driver’s side of the Mercedes,” prosecutor Kevin Hegarty told the court. “As she left the Mercedes she left the driver’s door open. She walked quite calmly towards Sikander Ali and was pointing a gun at him at head height.

“As she got closer to Sikander Ali he saw her and he saw the gun and she pulled the trigger to fire the gun at him. Mercifully and luckily for him the gun jammed.”

The next day she sent a chilling text to  Aslat Mahamud: “You want to rip me off, you want to be a drugs kingpin go look at your house. I will show you. Watch your back. I will be shedding blood soon.”

He responded: “What are you talking about? I’m a family man I have never sold drugs in my life.”

And then, Betro was in the wind and back in the U.S. with Nazir hot on her heels. He was arrested when he returned to the UK.

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Nazir was found guilty of conspiracy to murder, and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. He was also found guilty of perverting the course of justice and illegally importing firearms over a plot to bring guns into the country and then blame it on another person to frame them.

Aslam was found guilty of conspiracy to murder. He was cleared of a firearms offence.

“Aslam and Nazir were determined to take revenge following a fallout where they were injured,” Det. Insp. Matt Marston said.

“The lengths they went to in trying to make sure they weren’t implicated in pulling the trigger are immense. However, thanks to some great police work and support from our Derbyshire colleagues, we were able to place them firmly in the middle of the attempted murder plot.”

Betro remains on the run.

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun

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