New arrests over 1994 taxi driver murder

Asha Patel
BBC News, Nottingham
Nottinghamshire Police A photograph of Ethsham Ul-Haq Ghafoor wearing blue denim jeans and a blue shirt sitting on an armchair  smiling. Nottinghamshire Police
Ethsham Ul-Haq Ghafoor, known to his friends and family as Shami, was 26 when he was shot dead in his taxi on 22 November 1994

New arrests have been made in connection with the murder of a taxi driver 31 years ago.

Ethsham Ul-Haq Ghafoor was 26 when he was shot dead in his taxi in Nottinghamshire in November 1994, in what police described as an "execution".

Nottinghamshire Police relaunched a murder investigation last year

On Wednesday, officers arrested three men aged 58, 57 and 55 on suspicion of murder.

The arrests have come after searches for ammunition were made in connection with the case at a Nottingham home in January.

The force said it had received information there could be evidence in the property in Sneinton but that no-one living at the address was connected to the murder.

Supplied A photograph taken in 1994 of a crime scene, showing a taxi next to playing fields in Gedling, with a lorry parked in the backgroundSupplied
Mr Ghafoor was found tied to his steering wheel

Mr Ghafoor - known to friends and family as Shami - was shot dead in his car in the early hours of 22 November 1994.

He was found with his hands tied and bound to the steering wheel of his car by a milkman at Lambley Playing Fields in Gedling.

The taxi driver had a five-year-old son at the time and his daughter was born five months after his death.

Police have now arrested a total of nine people in connection with his death.

'No stone unturned'

Ch Insp Clare Dean, who is leading the investigation, said: "We made a commitment to Shami's family that we would leave no stone unturned when we relaunched the investigation last year.

"We continue to follow all new and existing lines of inquiry to ensure that his family get the answers they have waited for."

The men arrested remain in police custody, she added.

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