On 18 August, at Leeds Magistrates Court, Aaron Mohammed was fined for working without a Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence. His company, Twenty Four 7 Security & CCTV Ltd, was also prosecuted for supplying unlicensed guards.
Aaron Mohammed pleaded guilty to all the offences, on 21 August. The court fined him £100 and ordered him to pay costs of £2,251 and a victim surcharge of £30. The company itself was also fined £100 and ordered to pay costs of £2,251 and a victim surcharge of £30.
The court stated that all the fines must be paid in full by August 2018 when Aaron Mohammed is released from the custodial sentence he is currently serving for unrelated matters.
SIA Head of Criminal Investigations, Nathan Salmon, said: “Aaron Mohammed was not licensed to manage or supervise those engaged in licensable activity. He supplied unlicensed security operatives to his customers and ignored numerous attempts by the SIA to engage with him.
“Throughout 2017, the SIA has been investigating a number of security businesses in West Yorkshire, all appear to be closely linked to each other. We will continue to pursue and take action against those businesses that flout the regulation and are determined to root out poor business practices”
The SIA began investigating Twenty Four 7 Security & CCTV Ltd as part of a crackdown on security companies who were suspected of deploying unlicensed guards. They established that Aaron Mohammed had secured a contract to guard at seven sites across the Leeds and Bradford area of West Yorkshire.
On several occasions, from December 2016 to January 2017, the SIA requested information relating to contracts. All attempts made by the SIA to engage with Aaron Mohammed and his company were ignored.
To investigate further, in December 2016, SIA investigators inspected several sites and found two security guards working without a licence at two sites. Deploying unlicensed security operatives constitutes an offence under the Private Security Industry Act 2001.
The security guards stated that they were employed by Twenty Four 7 Security & CCTV Ltd and explained that Aaron Mohammed was their boss.
This led SIA investigators to check whether Aaron Mohammed was licensed as director of the company; he was not and this is also an offence.
Aaron Mohammed was formally interviewed in June and admitted to being unlicensed as a director, supplying unlicensed guards and ignoring the SIA’s requests for information.