WCOM NEWS

8-26-04

Miami pair held in murder-robbery at Miramar gas station

MIRAMAR--Two Miami men have been charged in connection with the July 15 slaying of a Pakistani national during a robbery at the Shell gas station at 1700 S. Douglas Road.

Oliver Thomas, 20, was charged with armed robbery and the murder of Azmat Ali Syed, 54, a father of five who earlier this year became an American citizen and who rode a red, white and blue bike to work.

Arthur Lee Swint, 25, was charged with accessory to murder after the fact. Miramar police say he drove the getaway car used in the crime.

Thomas was arrested in an unrelated robbery in Miami-Dade County on July 22, about a week after the Miramar slaying. Swint was arrested on July 30 in the same robbery.

According to Miramar police spokesman Bill Robertson, Miami-Dade detectives called them after Swint's arrest because of apparent similarities between the two cases.

Robertson said Thomas and Swint would enter a gas station or convenience store and ask to buy cigarettes. He said they would then point a gun at the clerk after he or she turned away to get a pack off the shelf.

"What broke this case was…the way they committed these robberies," said Robertson, who added that physical evidence collected at the gas station linked the men to the crime.

Nazir Madhani, the gas station's owner, said he hoped justice would be served for his former employee.

"Whoever did it, they won't do it to somebody else," Madhani said. "It's really a good feeling. I was under the impression that these people were going to get away with murder."

About 12:25 a.m. on July 15, Syed was working a midnight shift at the gas station when he was fatally shot with a single bullet from a .45 caliber handgun. The robbers got away with $457.

Police found Syed's body behind the counter.

According to a 911 tape, an unidentified witness claimed Syed was trying to take the gun away from the robber.

Madhani said his night employees have been instructed to serve customers through a glass window, which led him and detectives to believe Syed knew the customer and let him in the store.

A week before his murder, Syed's wife interviewed with U.S. immigration officials in Islamabad, Pakistan, so the family could be united in America.

Syed, who left five children in Pakistan, came to the United States in 1995 and became a citizen early this year. He worked at a paper store in Manhattan before moving to South Florida about three years ago, said Sohail Syed, his brother-in-law in Orlando.

He said Syed had grown tired of the cold weather and moved to Miami, where he worked at a Subway sandwich shop. About a year ago, he moved to Pembroke Pines and got the job at the Shell station.

His dream was to be reunited here with his wife and children, according to relatives.

Ron Ishoy, a spokesman for the Broward State Attorney's Office, said he did not know whether Thomas and Swint would be tried first in Miami-Dade and then face charges in Broward County.

"It's much too early to know exactly how this will all shake out," Ishoy said.

(source) Sun Sentinel (Thomas Monnay) 8-26-04