Drug dealer dies, daughter hurt in latest hit

8 July 2004

AMSTERDAM — Reputed drug dealer Mounir Barsoum became the latest victim in a series of gangland hits in Amsterdam when he was shot dead at the wheel of his car in the west of the capital on Thursday. His daughter, 12, was airlifted to hospital in a critical condition.

They were sitting in a dark blue car at traffic lights at the corner of the Jan van Galenstraat and Willem de Zwijgerlaan around midday when two men drew up on a motor scooter.

A witness told local television station AT5 that the pillion passenger dismounted and fired 10 shots into the front and side of the car. He then remounted the bike and sped away.

Barsoum, 55, was dead at the scene when the police arrived and his daughter was taken by trauma helicopter to hospital. She is said to be in a critical condition.

The police later confirmed that Barsoum was the latest victim of a spate of gangland assassinations in recent years.

Originally from Egypt, Mounir and his brother Magdi ran a coffee shop and café called Bar Red Light on the Oudezijds Achterburgwal.

Magdi was believed to be involved in illegal drug dealing and he was shot dead in Bloedstraat in Amsterdam in 2002, newspaper De Telegraaf reported.

At the time, it was claimed he had done business with notorious drug dealer Klaas Bruinsma who was himself gunned down outside the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam in 1991.

It was also reported that Barsoum had sold cannabis to another infamous drug baron, Sam Klepper, and the drugs were supplied by Ibrahim Akasha. A dispute about payment arose between Klepper and Akasha and Magdi Barsoum acted as mediator.

In May 2000, Akasha was gunned down in Bloedstraat, the same street where Magdi Barsoum was shot and killed two years ago. Klepper was assassinated in October 2000.

It is widely believed these and several other gangland killings relate to an ongoing feud between Dutch and Yugoslav criminals.

In May of this year, property tycoon Willem Endstra — who denied he was a banker to the underworld — was shot down outside his office on the Apollolaan in the south of the city.

Initially, police said they had found the getaway bike to Thursday’s shooting, but there was no sign of the killers. The area around the victims’ car has been sealed off. Later, AT5 reported two men were arrested and a motor scooter seized on Van Oldebarneveldtplein, not far from the murder scene.

According to the first reports, the two men were “fiddling with the number plate of the scooter”. It is unclear if these men are connected in any way with the shooting.

Subject: Dutch news + Amsterdam gangland killings + shooting