The gangland-style murder of a dad on Christmas Eve has been linked to one of Europe’s most wanted men and a string of killings on the Costa del Sol.
Flamur Beqiri, 36, was repeatedly shot by a hitman outside his £1.7million home in Battersea, South-West London, in front of his wife and child.
Scotland Yard are investigating whether the Swedish national was targeted because of his connections with organised crime groups in his home town of Malmo.
Sources say Mr Beqiri, whose sister is The Real Housewives Of Cheshire star Misse Beqiri, was an associate of a gang boss currently embroiled in a turf war with a rival group who have brought terror to the Costa del Sol.
Known as Los Suecos, meaning “the Swedes”, they are suspected of ordering shootings, kidnappings, torching
beachfront restaurants, and bombing rivals´ warehouses.
Leader Amir Mekky, 22, is currently on the run after escaping a raid by 120 Spanish police on his hideout in November 2018.
Five months earlier Mekky was shot in the leg while three of his associates were murdered in Malmo.
The hit is thought to have been ordered by the gang linked to Mr Beqiri, Swedish sources say.
Police chief Marcos de Miguel, of the Costa del Sol’s organised crime unit, described Mekky as “very dangerous” after issuing a warrant for his arrest.
Scotland Yard refused to say if they are working with the Spanish police as part of the latest murder probe.
The National Crime Agency, Britain’s answer to the FBI, is understood to be assisting murder squad officers to liaise with foreign forces.
Among the Spanish murders linked to Los Suecos was the 2018 killing of cocaine trafficker David Ávila Ramos, 37, known as “Maradona” in the Marbella drug
underworld.
Ramos was gunned down while leaving his son’s first communion ceremony.
Like Mr Beqiri, he was killed in front of his wife and young children who were in the car with him when he was shot.
Sofian Ahmed Barrak, 34, known as “El Zocato” was shot nine times in a second killing that Los Suecos are suspected of carrying out.
Barrak was one of the prime movers of Moroccan hashish into Europe when he was tricked into meeting a messenger outside his home in the El Campanario area of Estepona.
It has been reported that Spanish police have previously linked Los Suecos to Ridouan Taghi – a Dutchman of Moroccan heritage - said to be responsible for 20 murders.
Taghi, the head of the “Angels of Death” gang, was Holland’s most wanted man when he was arrested in Dubai last month as part of a huge international manhunt.
Insp Jamie Stevenson, from
Scotland Yard and his team are looking at whether Mr Beqiri’s murder was a “targeted attack”. He explained:
“We believe Flamur may possibly have been involved in some criminality in Sweden, and are in liaison with our Swedish counterparts to try to understand what, if any, incidents there may have been that might have led to someone seeking retribution against Flamur in the UK.”
Mr Beqiri’s friend Naief Adawi, 33, was targeted in a gangland shooting outside a falafel shop in Malmo in August.
The convicted bank robber handed his two-month-old baby to his doctor wife Karolin Hakim, 31, and fled.
Karolin was shot in the head as she lay on the pavement. The child and its father survived. In 2008 Mr Beqiri was named as one of Sweden’s most wanted men after detectives claimed he was part of a ring which had
smuggled £2million of cannabis.
The drugs charges were later dropped and he was instead found guilty of illegally handling smuggled goods including
cigarettes and alcohol and given a suspended sentence.
At the time he was killed Mr Beqiri’s Facebook profile photo was a picture with his sister, Real Housewives of Cheshire star Misse Beqiri.
Misse, dated The Only Way is Essex star Jake Hall after her marriage to Manchester United footballer Anders Lindegaard ended.
Mr Beqiri married Debora Krasniqi, in a lavish ceremony by Lake Como, Italy, in October 2018.
In a new book, Costa Del Coke, Dutch journalists Ivo Teulings and Arthur Van Amerongen, explain how the rise in violence on the Costa del Sol is partly due to a vacuum left after established crime bosses abandoned the area in recent years.
Mr Teulings said: “We spoke to some retired British gangsters who said it’s not like it used to be when criminals had codes and ethics.
"Of course there was violence but you knew where you stood and things were done for a valid reason.
“They don’t want to be involved in what’s happening now because attacks are happening without warning.
It’s just too violent for them.”
Many crime bosses have moved from Spain to Dubai, where it is easier to avoid extradition and illegal cash can be “cleaned” through real estate.
Mr Teulings said: “It was partly the Irish moving out of Spain which caused a power vacuum in the drug trafficking business.
"There is a lot of paranoia with everybody after everybody.
“Cocaine is really big business here. The drug trade generates far more income than tourism.
“There is so much money to be made it means a number of groups from all over the world want a piece of the cake. This naturally leads to violence.”
