Media blitz to nab killer of corrupted cop

14 February 2005

AMSTERDAM — Dutch authorities will launch an information blitz on Monday in a bid to solve last year’s murder of corrupt policeman Martin Hoogland, known for shooting and killing infamous mafia kingpin Klaas Bruinsma.

Police and prosecution officials will distribute flyers to some 1,200 inmates of various Dutch penitentiaries to gather more information about the 18 March murder last year.

Letters will also be sent to people in the vicinity around Hoogland who might shed some light on the suspected gangland slaying, news service nu.nl reported on Monday.

Information will also be requested via music channel TMF, in the radio programme Arbeidsvitaminen, free daily newspaper the Spits, and internet service provider Tiscali, Amsterdam police said on Sunday.

In addition, television crimestopper show Opsporing Verzocht will show on Monday night video footage taken by a surveillance camera of the suspected killer. Police will also reveal the suspect’s Christian name and nickname.

The investigation into Hoogland’s murder has been stalled for some time, but the public prosecutor (OM) now appears to have identified a suspect.

The chief Amsterdam public prosecutor is offering a EUR 20,000 reward for the tip that leads to an arrest. Officers from various police districts attached to the inter-regional team IRPT are investigating the murder.

Hoogland, 47, was shot and killed as he rode his bike near the open penitentiary De Keern in the northern Dutch town of Hoorn last year. He had previously been sentenced in Amsterdam in 1993 to 10 years jail for the murder of crime boss Bruinsma and drug dealer Tony Hijzelendoorn.

Initially a police detective in the Dutch capital, Hoogland turned gangster and worked as a hitman. He was serving out the remainder of his sentence at Hoorn and was due to be released from jail in mid-2004. Police allege that Hoogland had links with the Serbian crime world.

Bruinsma was shot and killed on 27 June 1991 outside the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam. His name was in the news again in 2003 when Prince Johan Friso and Mabel Wisse Smit admitted in October of that year that they had withheld information about Mabel’s former relationship with the crime boss.

The announcement prompted Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende to refuse to apply for parliamentary approval of their upcoming wedding. It meant that Prince Friso lost his rights to the Dutch throne when he married Mabel in the city of Delft in April 2004. He retained the title of prince.

Subject: Dutch news