Muhammad Zakir Arif, of Harrington Close, Bury, appeared at Manchester Crown Court earlier today (Monday 9 September 2024) and was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, strangulation or suffocation, two counts of possession of a bladed article in a public place, and two counts of failure to comply with a Section 49 Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act notice.

Muhammad Zakir Arif has been sentenced to three years in prison.

The three-year sentence also included two counts of robbery, one count of attempted robbery and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place, which Arif had been found guilty of during a previous trial which took place in November 2023.

On the evening of 18 January 2023, Arif approached a juvenile male in Cornwall Drive, Bury, and produced a ‘zombie style knife’, threatening the victim before forcing him to hand over his bag and jacket. The attack was recorded on video and later circulated on social media. This followed a similar robbery committed by Arif earlier that same month.

In February 2024, whilst on court bail awaiting sentencing for the robbery offences, Arif was travelling in a taxi in Hulme when the car was stopped, and he was arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences. In his possession at the time of his arrest was a machete, a large zombie knife and two mobile phones.

Having refused to provide the passcodes for the two mobile phones, Arif was served with a Section 49 RIPA Court Order, which compels a suspect to provide access to their electronic devices or face prosecution. The application for the order had been granted in the interests of national security but he still refused to provide access.

Whilst in custody, Arif was questioned by detectives several times and, on one occasion, he leapt forward at the interviewer before launching a brutal attack. After punching the detective in the head numerous times, he then proceeded to violently strangle the officer before he could be restrained.

Speaking following the sentencing, Head of Investigations for Counter Terrorism Policing North West, Detective Superintendent Andy Meeks, said:

“Today’s sentencing is the culmination of months of dedicated work by the investigation team to ensure Muhammad Zakir Arif faced the consequences of his actions. Machetes and zombie knives have no place on our streets so we’re pleased that two dangerous weapons have been seized and will be destroyed. However, his offending didn’t stop after his arrest and he would go on to repeatedly flout a legal order, refuse to answer questions, and violently attack somebody as they tried to do their job.

Thankfully the detective has fully recovered and returned to work, having been closely supported by colleagues across the team. Muhammad Zakir Arif was sentenced to three years in prison. We welcome the sentence imposed by the judge today.”

Tom has spent the last 13 years working in the defence industry, specifically military and commercial shipbuilding. His work has taken him around Europe and the Far East, he is currently based in Scotland.
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

6 Comments
oldest
newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Jonathan
Jonathan (@guest_857307)
14 days ago

I’m sorry, three years. That is pathetic. This is clearly a profoundly dangerous individual, just using the zombie knife and machete in a robbery should be a 10 year sentence, the assault on the police officer another decade..with any terror activity added on.

This is one of the problems, we send to many people down for too long for minor stuff and those that cross over the pale seem to only have the same sentences. Things like terror offences, rape, sexual exploitation, trafficking should all carry life sentences.

klonkie
klonkie (@guest_857312)
14 days ago
Reply to  Jonathan

totally agree with you!

grizzler
grizzler (@guest_857322)
14 days ago
Reply to  Jonathan

Not so sure abou the life sentences bit – but I definately agree there seems to be a disparity when looking across sentencing as a whole. Even worse when you consider how some crimes do not now even warrant jail time at all. Shop lifting for example costs millions but it is treated with ambivalence by courts, along with knife crime etc , both of which are now ubiquitous on our streets. But we can’t expect custodial sentences due to how many are in jail – and even those are freed -go figure. I’m sure Starer with his CPS background… Read more »

JohnG
JohnG (@guest_857692)
13 days ago

There is either an issue with the comments function, or comments are being deliberately removed from posts without any info regarding why.

I see from my emails that 3 comments i made across different articles on 25/9 that recieved replies are all not appearing in the articles themselves…?

Transparency around this would be appreciated

Ex-RoyalMarine
Ex-RoyalMarine (@guest_861553)
34 minutes ago

Three years, pathetic. It took four people to pull him off. By the time he did, the DC questioning him had nearly passed out. What this article doesn’t say is he is a member of the same Mosque as another 11 men who are currently serving sentences for terrorism offences. If this was the 1960s, the government would have declared a civil emergency. The number of bods being watched is increasing by 20% every year. The budgets each department gets are being squeezed. In real terms, three branches have had their budgets cut. One of them is undermanned by 25%… Read more »

Last edited 33 minutes ago by Ex-RoyalMarine