Diemen criminal arrested for attempted assassinations

The police arrested 23-year-old criminal A. el B. from Diemen this week on suspicion of involvement in at least three attempted assassinations on Amsterdam criminals, Het Parool reports. The suspect himself survived an attempt on his life in 2016 and was previously twice convicted for illegal firearm possession.

According to the newspaper, El B. is suspected of three attempted assassinations on criminals belonging to the Amsterdam gang around Gwenette Martha, himself assassinated in 2014. El B. belongs to the other Amsterdam gang, with which Martha's gang has been in conflict since 2012. Dozens of criminals, and a handful of innocent bystanders, have been murdered in this conflict.

El B. is suspected of playing a role in a very violent attempt to assassinate criminal Chahid Yakhlaf in Almere on November 1st, 2014. An explosion went off in a rented Volkswagen Golf in which Yakhlaf and a friend were sitting on Poortdreef. Men in a BMW then opened fire on Yakhlaf with an automatic weapon. Somehow Yakhlaf managed to escape with only a wounded arm. He was eventually killed on New Year's eve 2015 on a campsite in Kerkdriel where he was in hiding with his brother.

The Public Prosecutor also suspects El B. of involvement in an attack on Amsterdam criminal Nourdine A. on April 3rd last year. Two men on a scooter opened fire on A. with at least one automatic weapon while he was sitting in a car on Burgemeester Vening Meineszlaan in Amsterdam Nieuw-West. He remained unharmed. The Prosecutor did not say what role El B. is suspected of playing in this attempted assassination.

And on June 1st this year, a SWAT team forced a stolen BMW off the road in Almere. Inside were two criminals the authorities believe were on their way to murder an Amsterdam criminal at a house he regularly stayed in in Almere. In the car the police found a firearm, gloves and possible disguises. According to the Public Prosecutor, El B. was complicit in this murder plan.

According to Het Parool, the Amsterdam police considers the intellectually challenged El B. as extremely dangerous because he does not hesitate to commit murder. In mid-November El B. was sentenced to six months in prison for illegal firearm possession and seriously threatening a police officer who arrested him. He kept the firearm in the room where his 11-year-old sister slept. Last year he was also sentenced to five months in prison for illegal firearm possession.