Four Albanians killed in fortnight
A RECORD producer shot dead outside his home on Christmas Eve was the fourth man of Albanian heritage to be murdered in Britain in the past fortnight.
Flamur Beqiri, 36, was gunned down in front of his wife outside their £1.5million Battersea home in south London at around 9pm.
The Met Police are investigating possible links with organised crime in Sweden, where Mr Beqiri moved to from Kosovo as a child.
In 2008 he was named as one of Sweden’s most wanted men amid claims that he was part of an international drugs gang that smuggled £2million of cannabis into Scandinavia.the charges were later dropped but he was found guilty of smuggling cigarettes and alcohol.
Det Insp Jamie Stevenson said: “We believe Flamur may 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.”
Four days before he was killed, a 31-year-old Kosovan-albanian man, Shkelqim Paja, was found dead from stab wounds in Elstree, Hertfordshire.
The Met have linked it to the murder of a 30-year-old man found stabbed to death five miles away in Barnet, north London, a day earlier. He was last night named as Arber Fesko.
Albanian Besnik Berisha, 42, and Kazikutuwisana, 31, have been charged with both murders and remanded in custody.
Police are investigating whether the double killing is connected to organised crime but say there is nothing to suggest a link to the murder of Mr Beqiri. A week earlier, on December 12, Albanian Asqeri Spaho, 25, died after being stabbed in the chest during a fight in Southend.
A police spokesman said: “Police believe that the suspects involved attacked the man during a targeted drugs-related burglary.”
Three men from London, two aged 21 and one aged 31, were arrested and bailed until January.
Meanwhile, the Government has pledged a further £35million to help police tackle spiralling levels of violence connected to organised crime.the Met, who have investigated 150 murders this year, will get the most, at £7million.