Hells Angels raided after murders, bizarre kidnap

9 March 2004

AMSTERDAM — Police raided the Hells Angels motorcycle gang’s clubhouse in Limburg on Monday night and also prevented a suspected double murder reportedly linked to a failed cocaine deal. The drug deal is alleged to be the motive behind a recent triple murder.

Several dozen ME special operations officers and normal police raided the clubhouse in the southern Dutch town of Oirsbeek at about 10pm. The area around the De Nomads clubhouse was sealed off and police kept bystanders away from the scene.

Police are also expected to continue searching the clubhouse on Tuesday for more clues in connection with the triple murder last month. Three De Nomads club members were found shot dead on 13 February in a stream in the city of Echt.

Meanwhile, Limburg police and officers of the National Criminal Investigation Department also raided several homes in the province of Limburg on Monday night, news agency ANP reported.

The prosecution ordered the raids not only due to the murder investigation, but also in relation to the kidnapping on Monday of two members of an Antillean motorcycle gang. The kidnapping was allegedly carried out by two Hells Angels members.

The murder and the kidnapping are reportedly connected to a conflict over the theft of 293kg of cocaine with an estimated street value of EUR 7 million.

The three murder victims, Paul de Vries, 54, Cor Peijnenburg, 33, and Serge Wagenaar, 34, and a fourth man are suspected by police to have stolen the drugs from a group of Colombians, newspaper De Telegraaf reported.

The Colombians allegedly confronted the Hells Angels gang about the theft, prompting a disagreement among gang members about how to resolve the situation.

But after the three murders were committed, the club reportedly started investigating the case itself and brought two members of a Curacao-based motorcycle gang, which is allied with the Hells Angels, to the Netherlands last week.

The Antillean gang members, John D. and Angelo D., allegedly negotiated the delivery of the cocaine and are held responsible by their Limburg “brothers” for the failure of the transaction and the resulting conflict.

Police were tipped off on Monday that the two Antilleans might soon be murdered and police moved in when the hostages were being transferred from where they were being held in Sittard-Geleen municipality.

Police arrested two suspected hostage-takers and the two hostages. In what Dutch news agency ANP described as a “remarkable” twist, the police allegedly found the hostages were both in possession of loaded guns.

A spokesman from the national prosecution department (OM) could not confirm whether there was a link between the murder and the kidnapping.

The Hells Angels clubs in Limburg and on the Antillean island Curacao are allegedly involved in large scale cocaine smuggling.

The national prosecution office was placed in charge of the murder investigation last week. The Roermond prosecution office previously in charge of the inquiries had insufficient capacity and expertise to continue the investigation.

Subject: Dutch news