00:00West Midlands Police say the actions of two men have cost taxpayers more than £100,000.
00:07Zanyul Shafi, aged 44, and Shahid Khan, aged 31, made more than 122 hoax emergency calls over 78 days.
00:17This triggered major responses.
00:19Police say the calls included false reports of shootings, murders and a baby left on railway tracks,
00:26all of which demanded urgent action from emergency services across the West Midlands.
00:32Zanyul Shafi has been jailed for three years after being found guilty of intentionally causing a public nuisance at Birmingham
00:39Crown Court.
00:41Shahid Khan was ruled unfit to appear and will be sentenced at a later date.
00:46Officers say the pair used different phones and altered their voices to avoid being identified while making repeated false reports.
00:55Those calls led to large-scale deployments, including firearms officers, drones and the police helicopter,
01:02diverting resources away from genuine emergencies.
01:06In one incident, nearly 20 police vehicles and more than 30 officers were sent to railway tracks following a false
01:13report involving a baby.
01:15Detectives later uncovered messages showing the men discussing the police response and asking for video footage of the helicopter.
01:22Officers say extensive digital work helped trace the calls and built the case against both men.
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