Fourth suspect arrested in attempted helicopter jailbreak

A fourth suspect in an attempt to hijack a helicopter and break an Amsterdam gang leader from the prison in Roermond last week, was arrested. The suspect was arrested on Thursday last week, a day after the attempted jailbreak. He and three other suspects were arraigned and remanded into restricted custody, ANP reports.

Last week Wednesday, a number of people from the Amsterdam underworld tried to hijack a helicopter and use it to break Benaouf A. out of the Roermond prison. The police stopped the hijacking. One suspect was shot and killed, and three others were arrested. The fourth was arrested a day later. Several other suspects are still at large.

Following this attempted jailbreak, Benaouf A. was transferred to the high security prison in Vught.

A. is considered a leader in the Amsterdam gang world. He is currently serving a 12 year prison sentence for involvement in the assassination of another Amsterdam criminal, Najab Boubouh, in October 2012. In December of that year, A. was targeted in an assassination attempt in Amsterdam's Staatsliedenbuurt. He survived, but two others did not. The murder of Bouhbouh and the Staatsliedenbuurt assassinations are considered the start of the Amsterdam gang war, which in the years since resulted in the deaths of dozens of Amsterdam criminals and a handful of innocent bystanders.