A Wisconsin Woman’s Bizarre International Assassination Plot
A Wisconsin woman was recently convicted in a shocking assassination plot after police claimed she traveled to England, disguised herself, and attempted to shoot a man at close range for a “long-distance lover” she met online. Aimee Betro, 44, was found guilty of conspiracy to murder and possession of a firearm with intent in Birmingham Crown Court. Her actions were part of a bizarre revenge plot targeting the family of a clothing shop owner in Birmingham, England, who had been involved in a feud with her romantic partner and his family.
According to prosecutors, Betro became an international would-be “hitwoman” after meeting her boyfriend, Mohammed Nazir, online. At some point, Nazir and his father, Mohammed Aslam, recruited her to carry out a planned assassination on a Birmingham clothing shop owner. The assassination plot stemmed from a 2018 dispute between Aslam, Nazir, and the store owner, which resulted in property damage and injuries to all three men involved.
Betro agreed to fly from her home in Wisconsin to England on August 22, 2019, to execute the plan. Two weeks later, on September 7, 2019, she drove to the shop owner’s South Yardley home in a black Mercedes she had purchased that day. She disguised herself in a niqab, covering her body and face, and attempted to shoot the shop owner’s son at point-blank range as he arrived home around 8:10 p.m. However, the plot failed when her gun jammed, allowing the target to escape unharmed.
“This is a unique case which has involved a huge amount of work tracing the movements of Betro from her arrival into the UK, her subsequent failed attempt to shoot a man dead, and her departure from the UK,” said Detective Chief Inspector Alastair Orencas of the West Midlands Police Major Crime Unit. “It’s by luck that her attempt to kill her target failed, thanks to the jamming of her gun.”
After changing her clothes, Betro returned to the home several hours later in a cab using the fake name “Becky Booth.” Surveillance footage captured her distinctive trousers and toe-capped shoes as she approached the property. She fired three shots through the windows—two bullets penetrating the bay window and one going through the bedroom window, causing extensive damage to the family home. Betro then sent a taunting text message to the shop owner from an unregistered phone, stating, “Stop playing hide n seek. You’re lucky it jammed. Who is it? Your family or you? Pick one.”
Betro fled England on September 9, 2019, and joined Nazir in the United States. The pair attempted to target another of Nazir’s rivals. While in the U.S., Betro sent three packages containing illegal ammunition and firearm components, using a false name, to a man in Derbyshire, a county in the East Midlands of England. Nazir tipped off the police about the package, leading to the man’s brief arrest before the revenge plot unraveled. Betro was later convicted of being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of ammunition in connection with that plot.
Authorities were able to identify Betro as a suspect after reviewing surveillance footage, which captured her buying burner phones in Birmingham, repeatedly scoping out the victim’s house before the attack, approaching the victim with a gun clearly visible in her hand, and fleeing in the damaged Mercedes. They also used mobile phone data, witness testimony, and digital forensics to build the case against her.
An international manhunt was launched to track her down, but Betro fled to Armenia and remained on the run for years. She was arrested in Armenia in July 2024 and extradited back to the UK to face the charges against her. She is scheduled to be sentenced for the crimes on August 21, 2025.
Nazir was previously convicted for the charges against him, including conspiracy to murder, and was sentenced to 32 years behind bars. His father, Aslam, received a 10-year sentence for his role in the failed revenge plot.
