ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Security forces in Erbil have captured a criminal band who were responsible for the murder of former Islamic preacher Mahmud Othman in January, the security agency, also called Asayesh said in a statement Thursday night.

Mahmud Othman who was on study leave and was working in a currency exchange at the time of his death was robbed and shot dead in front of his house in southeastern Erbil on Jan. 31.

“A group of five people in connection with some organized crimes (theft and murder) in the city of Erbil were arrested by our teams of the Directorate of Erbil Asayish, following intensive investigations and monitoring,” the statement said.

It said the five people admitted they were responsible for a number of crimes, the last one of which was the killing of Othman.

The group robbed about $80,000 from Othman as he was returning home, Asayish said.

Othman, married and father of three, was shot dead by at least one armed masked man, as he was returning home from work, his wife told Rudaw a day after the murder.

“He opened the outside door, and I opened the kitchen door so that he could come in,” Asya Anwar, Othman’s wife said referring to her husband as she described the incident. “He became a little delayed and then I heard his cry. I opened the door and it was obvious that they had injured him, beaten his leg, and had taken his money. He made his way to the kitchen door.”

Witnesses say that the perpetrator fled the scene in a black car.

“He was covered with blood and he was crying. A masked man near him was shooting him constantly, and he continued to cry. I hid myself behind the door in the kitchen out of fear. Then when I came out, I saw the man was gone and Mahmud had in his hands a small hand gun. He shot four bullets, and that is it. And he declared the Shahada. He could hardly breathe,” Anwar said.

The Shahada is the Islamic testimonial of faith.

“He was covered in blood,” Anwar said through tears. “I put his head on my legs and shouted for help from our neighbours.”

There were many closed-circuit television cameras in the area where the shooting took place and the Asayesh is said to have used them to track the criminals.

The Erbil police said at the time that they were coordinating with the Asayesh to investigate the murder. “The initial findings indicate that he was killed because of money and it was not a terrorist act,” the police said then in a statement.

A spokesperson for the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Religious Affairs told Rudaw that Othman had been an Islamic preacher at a local mosque, but he was on study leave at the time of his death. He was studying Islamic studies.

Othman had been running a currency exchange shop in Erbil with a colleague.