-Caveat Lector- http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,415081,00.htm l Amsterdam in shock as killer gangs muscle in on tourist haunts Arms war: Police on alert after clashes over weapons smuggling Andrew Osborn in Amsterdam Saturday December 23, 2000 When a hooded man wearing a baseball cap strolled into a sushi bar close to historic Dam Square in Amsterdam and executed three diners in cold blood, the police knew they had a problem. Two of the dead were members of the city's increasingly murky underworld and serious players in the arms smuggling trade which seems to have found Amsterdam as its nerve centre. The two Yugoslav nationals had chosen the fashionable Kobe House restaurant for a Friday night meal with their Dutch girlfriends. Seated at a communal table sipping their beers and waiting for their raw fish to be served up, they presented an easy target. The assassin picked them off at close range with a powerful automatic shotgun in a matter of seconds, killing one of the two men's girlfriends in the process. The other girl escaped with her life. Though the killer fled, a man was arrested earlier this month and remains in police custody. The nature of the killings has sent shockwaves through the city's police force, prompting the authorities to embark upon the biggest mafia clampdown Amsterdam has seen. Gangland feuding and tit-for-tat killing is not new to the city - there are around 15 gang-related deaths every year - but its growing intensity has shocked the police, who are especially worried that it is now being done so openly. In the past, gangland figures settled their scores in private in the small hours in well-known troublespots far from the city centre and its tourists. But in recent months the old rules of the game no longer seem to app ly and innocent passers-by have sometimes found themselves caught in the crossfire. The Kobe House restaurant, now reopened for business and attracting large numbers of diners anxious to eat at the same table as the underworld victims, is in the heart of the city centre. It is also opposite a police stat ion. Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, the street where it is located, is lined with hotels, restaurants, bars and a busy shopping centre. The pavement outside is awash with bikes, and trams trundle past narrow gabled houses. Its central location and the brutal nature of the killing set alarm bells ringing at police headquarters. A line was crossed and the gloves have come off. On the other side of town, sitting in an airy office plastered with sailing photographs, one of the men charged with cleaning up the mess, public prosecutor Jeroen Steenbrink, is adamant that there is no need to panic. Bu t Mr Steenbrink does admit that the Kobe House killings and a spate of other killings in the last two months, often in broad daylight, represent a radical departure for Amsterdam. "Two things are special about this. The first is that we've had a lot of killings in a very short period of time and the second is that they are now taking place on the street. We've also begun to find more and more heavy weapons - the kind used in wars or by terrorists." There is growing evidence, he adds, that the city is filling up with mobsters from the Balkans who are heavily involved in the illicit arms trade. Many of the exotic weapons found in recent months are of Yugoslav origin . "More and more Yugoslav people are taking leading positions in organised crime gangs. Some of them are bodyguards or hitmen and come only for a few days and do their job. Others stay longer. A few years ago, we had lots of Russians but that's over. Now we have Yugoslavs." The Amsterdam police regularly exchange intelligence with their counterparts in Germany where a large number of Yugoslav mobsters operate. A series of bloody internecine Balkan conflicts in the past 10 years has produced a steady stream of ready-made gangsters and a flow of cheap weapons. Nor were the Kobe House killings an isolated incident. In September, Jan Femer, a leading underworld figure, was gunned down as he sat in his car in the centre of town."He was shot at close range; it was very professional and he died immediately," said Mr Steenbrink. In October, Sam Klepper, a leading figure in the Hell's Angels and supposedly the Godfather of the Amsterdam underworld, met his end during a shootout in a crowded shopping centre. It was 5 o'clock in the evening and agai n the action took place opposite a police station. Klepper's bodyguards returned fire but were unable to protect their boss. A few weeks ago a Turkish gangster was also executed at close range in downtown Amsterdam, again opposite a police station and again in broad daylight. According to the authorities, gangland feuding and the battle to retain control of the city's complicated network of arms and drug rackets has now become so brutal that even the criminals are running scared. "The criminal gangs are very nervous. So many people are talking [to the police as informers] that they are scared for their own lives. They are wondering who will be next," says Mr Steenbrink. The authorities have decided that the only way of dealing with the problem is by meeting force with force. In the last two months, the police, in cooperation with the public prosecutor's office, have mounted a series of armed raids bursting into the city's cafes, restaurants and brothels. The scale of the operation has been en ormous and it is not over yet. On November 23, 500 armed officers stormed addresses around the city including a number of houses in the city's sprawling suburbs. Other raids have followed and 150 people have been arrested. Many of the those detained turned out to be illegal immigrants and have since been deported. Others have already been locked up while the authorities have drawn up a long list of people they want to lock up if they can fi nd them. "We want to let the criminals know that they're not safe and cannot carry out their crimes without punishment. In the last few months we've worked harder than ever before. We had to do something because we couldn't tell the people of Amsterdam that we were doing nothing. We know exactly what to do," promised Mr Steenbrink, who has more than 10 years of experience as a public prosecutor. In the course of their raids, the authorities have uncovered evidence that Amsterdam now lies at the centre of a vast arms smuggling network. Small arsenals that could equip a private army have been confiscated and the serious nature of the weaponry has alarmed the police. "When you see the amount and the kind of weapons we find, you know that they cannot be for a bank robbery or a lovers' quarrel. We have no concrete evidence but we think they are destined for foreign countries and terrorist organisa tions. It can't be anything else." The Real IRA and the Basque terrorist group Eta are cited as possible recipients. Police warehouses are rapidly filling up with heavy anti-tank weapons, Kalashnikovs, grenade launchers and an exotic array of fantasy weapons. Mr Steenbrink said: "We're talking about shooting umbrellas, mobile phones and suitcases. This is real James Bond stuff." -- The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the peop le. --9th Amendment to the United States Constitution. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. 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