Kemal Armagan is suspected of killing the boss of the Tottenham Turks clan in Moldova after carefully planning the hit for two weeks and honing his skills on a shooting range
A fugitive crime boss is wanted for the murder of a rival kingpin suspected of being behind a shooting that left a nine-year-old girl fighting for her life.
Kemal Armagan is at the centre of an international manhunt after Izzet Eren was killed by a masked gunman on an electric bike as he sat outside a cafe in Moldova. Eren, 41, is believed to have been a senior member of a violent North London criminal organisation known as the Tottenham Turks. Armagan, who was already wanted for two other murders, is a leading member of the rival Hackney Bombers.
He is suspected of killing Eren five weeks after the nine-year-old girl was hit in the head by a stray bullet during a drive-by attack on the Evin Turkish restaurant in Dalston, East London.
The youngster, who lives in Birmingham, was enjoying an evening meal with her parents on May 29 last year when a gunman on a Ducati motorbike opened fire. In an emotional statement her parents said later: “She only went there for ice cream and now we do not know if we will ever get our daughter back to being the smart, funny girl that she was before and whether she will be able to ever speak or move properly again.”
Three men sitting outside, aged 37, 42, and 44 were also shot but released from hospital after treatment. The intended target was believed to be a Hackney Bomber member who survived a previous attack from the Tottenham Turks. Eren died instantly when he was shot in the head three times in a suspected revenge attack on July 7 in Moldova’s capital Chisinau. The Interior Ministry said the victim had been on an Interpol wanted list on suspicion of trafficking heroin.
Moldovan prosecutor Victor Furtuna has revealed that murder was carefully planned over a number of days. He said the gunman flew into the country with an alleged accomplice two weeks before the murder. They were met by the Moldovan girlfriend of one of the men who acted as their diver, Mr Furtuna said. The gunman is believed to have honed his shooting skills at a number of firing ranges around the city.
And the killers are suspected of hiring a flat overlooking the murder scene and setting up a camera on the balcony to monitor Eren’s movements. A fourth plotter is said to have reccied the area in a hired car over a number of days. The gunman bought the getaway bike with cash and declined to give his details to the shop assistant, Mr Furtuna said. After shooting Eren at 11.31am, the killer fled to a nearby wooded area before dumping the bike and getting into a rented car. He allegedly slipped over the border into Romania hours later using a fake passport.
The killer then flew on to Bergamo in northern Italy. It is not known where he went from there. British citizen Toper Hassan, a former solicitor who was struck off in 2013, is accused of being among the accomplices. Hassan appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday as he fights extradition to Moldova where he is charged with the murder. He was arrested at Stansted Airport in August by National Crime Agency officers and was later remanded in custody.
The well-spoken defendant appeared via video-link from HMP Belmarsh to confirm his name and date of birth. He was remanded into custody by District Judge John Bristow and will be the subject of a five day extradition hearing in May. The Hackney and Tottenham clans, Kurdish Turks who once dominated the heroin trade to Britain, have been at war since at least 2009.
An attack on Armagan, who has 13 convictions, in a Tottenham snooker hall that year is said to have sparked a feud that has led to a string of murders, kidnappings and shootings. He is wanted for the murder of shopkeep Ahmet Paytak, 50, who was shot in Holloway, North London, in March 2009. Both Mr Paytak and his son, who was hit in the leg, had no part in the gang vendetta and were “truly in the wrong place at the wrong time”, the Old Bailey heard.
The gunman was hired by Armagan, who was involved in a “dreadful and deadly feud” with the Tottenham Boys, the jury was told. The driver of a motorcycle used in the attack, Michael James, was convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence. Hitman Ricardo Dwyer, 26, of Hackney, East London, was also jailed for life.
Armagan, who “cannot at present be found”, had been shot and wounded two months earlier and had sworn vengeance, said prosecutor Ed Brown QC. Mr Brown told another hearing: “He vowed to exact revenge and over the next few years there were a series of attacks, escalating to the use of guns and ultimately to murder and attempted murder.”
Moldovan prosecutors say he had “declared war” on Eren immediately after his brother was murdered in 2012. Ali Armagan, 32, was shot in the neck at close range as he sat in his custom-built Audi A8 limo near Turnpike Lane tube station, North London.
Eren’s brother Kemal “No Fingers” Eren is still wanted for the murder. Only a few weeks before, Zafer Eren – believed to be a cousin of the gangster killed in Moldova – was shot dead in Southgate, North London. Convicted Turkish drug dealer Izzet Eren had lost an application for asylum. He was jailed in London for 21 years in 2015 for being armed with a submachine gun to murder a rival. Eren was moved to a jail in Turkey in August 2019 but escaped a month later.
Scotland Yard then traced him to Moldova, where he was arrested in 2022. The Met launched an extradition case, but Eren was reportedly freed. Jermaine Baker, 28, of Tottenham, was shot dead by police in 2015 outside a North London court during Eren’s foiled jailbreak. Ozcan Eren, 32, was jailed for the bid to free his cousin.
Javon Reily, 32, of Farnborough, Hampshire, is facing trial at the Old Bailey in the summer after he denied four counts of attempted murder in relation to May’s Hackney shooting.
