THEIR brutality knows no bounds. For 15 years, rival Turkish gangs in North London have waged a turf war over Britain’s heroin supply. 8 Forensic officers gather evidence at the scene of a nine-year-old's shooting amid a gangland feud Credit: LNP 8 Cops want to trace this motorcyclist in connection with the shooting outside the London restaurant Credit: PA 8 The shocking incident saw cops descend on the scene Credit: PA In tit-for-tat stabbings and shootings, the Tottenham Turks and Hackney-based Bombacilar have been savage in their domination over the drugs trade - in a beef that began with a SLAP in a snooker hall.
Their murderous battle took on an even more sinister turn in May when a nine-year-old girl was caught up in a drive-by shooting as she sat having ice cream with her family at a Turkish restaurant in Hackney. Her parents this week said she might never again “speak or move properly”. Today one expert predicted that the violence will get WORSE after the leader of the gang behind the shooting of the primary school girl was assassinated in Moldova.
Izzet Eren, the boss of the notorious Tottenham Turks, was shot seven times as he sat outside a cafe wearing shorts, sliders and a baseball cap in the county’s capital of Chisinaua earlier this month. The 41-year-old was killed instantly when his executioner shot him three times in the head while riding past on an electric scooter. Ex-Met detective Ian Broughton, an expert on street gangs and drugs, said: “This was most certainly retribution, possibly for the young girl or as a show of strength.
“If a gang leader has violence committed against them or a member and they don’t retaliate, they lose respect. Most read in The Sun LEXI'S BATTLE Amanda Holden’s daughter Lexi rushed to hospital with life-threatening bug PLUSH PAD Ryan Christie forks out almost £900k for flat in expensive Scotland street GERS 0 MAN UTD 2 Clement needs new stars fast as former Ger stuns old club at Murrayfield LEWK AT THAT Lewis Capaldi spotted wearing Celtic top as he bumps into TV legend in London “It’s an upward spiral now and sometimes it only ever ends when enough people are taken out, either by acts of violence or law enforcement. “I would suggest we’re now going to see more violence on the streets.
” Mystery THIRD person filmed in rental car with Brits including kids’ football coach before two bodies found in Sweden Ian, who worked the North London streets and is now an expert witness, said there is now a danger the Turks or Bombacilar - also known as the Hackney bombers - could bring in gangsters from abroad as the war escalates. He said: “I’ve listened to recordings from surveillance devices and seen communications which have taken place during these spates of violence and you see these two gangs trying to obtain firearms and even sometimes bringing in people from other countries.” The feud between the gangs was sparked when Kemal Armagan, feared leader of the Hackney Bombers, was assaulted by a member of the Tottenham Turks in a snooker hall in 2009.
Since then dozens of ferocious attacks and killings have taken place. Among the most high profile was the shooting of high-ranking Bomber member Ali Armagan, 32, in 2012. He was killed as he sat in his custom-built Audi A8 limo outside Turnpike Lane underground station near Wood Green.
Innocent victim Just weeks before, Zafer Eren - believed to be a cousin of the boss recently killed in Moldova - was shot dead in Southgate, North London. In 1999, an American government report revealed that 95 per cent of the UK’s heroin supply chain was run by various Turkish groups in North London. Almost all the heroin smuggled in from the poppy fields in Afghanistan came through Turkey.
It is not known how much of the illegal trade the gangs now have as Albanian gangs muscle into London. However, more than £1million worth of the drug has been seized by police raids in various cafes and buildings along Green Lanes over the 15 years. Until recently the ferocity of the drugs war has been waged between gang members but Brits were left stunned when a nine-year-old girl was shot in a drive-by shooting in May.
The youngster, who lives in Birmingham, was enjoying an evening meal with her parents when a man on a bike fired shots into the Evin Turkish restaurant. Three men sitting outside the restaurant, aged 37, 42, and 44 were also shot but released from hospital after treatment. In an emotional statement her parents this week said: “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.
” The intended target told The Times how he wished the bullets had hit him instead of the little girl. He said: “She didn’t do anything wrong. It is killing me inside.
The waiting to know if she is going to live is too much. I am heartbroken. “I wish it had been me.
Maybe I deserve it. I have not been sleeping for four days. I have been praying for her and visiting the mosque.
I wish I was still sitting there [outside the restaurant] and the bullet had gone in my head." The shooting is suspected to be a hit on a Hackney bomber member who survived a previous attack four years ago. Ruthless gang bosses Who are the Hackney Bombers and Tottenham Turks? Hackney Bombers The Bombacilar are run by the Baybasin brothers - referred to as ‘The Family’ by those who fear them.
The previous boss was Huseyin Baybasin , 67, who was called the Pablo Escobar of Europe after taking control of the heroin trade in the 1970s. He is currently behind bars in the Netherlands after being given a life sentence for drug trafficking and conspiracy to murder in 2001. His younger brother Abdullah Baybasin, 64, who arrived in Britain in 1997 via Gibraltar, took over the family business.
Pictured above, Abdullah, who uses a wheelchair after being shot by a rival, was said to be an informant for MI5 and UK Customs and Excise during court appearances. Both brothers alleged that the Turkish government was complicit in the drugs trade. Abdullah was jailed for 22 years in 2006 for running a protection racket and conspiracy to supply 2.
23kg of heroin. He was cleared following a retrial after a judge ruled his conviction was unsafe. In September last year, the gangster was ordered to repay nearly £700,000 of criminal profit after a judge ruled his fortune came from running a “ruthless” and violent extortion racket.
In May, Abdullah was seen in Barcelona with drug lord Tekin Kartal, who was shot dead soon after leaving their meeting. Another brother, Mehmet, 59 is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence after being convicted at Liverpool Crown Court in 2011 for trying to import a 40-tonne shipment of cocaine into the UK with a Merseyside gang. The brothers' still wider family in the UK who are suspected to have taken over their criminal operations.
Tottenham Turks Leader Izzet Eren was shot dead in Moldova earlier this month in a suspected revenge attack. Eren was sitting outside a cafe when he was shot dead by an assassin on a scooter. Eren, 41, was jailed for 21 years in 2015 for firearms offences in London but was transferred to a Turkish prison in 2019.
He escaped a month later. Eren’s cousin, Kemal Eren, nicknamed ‘Fingers’ after losing some of his digits, feld the UK in 2012. In 2021, a court heard how he plotted to kill criminal rivals in Britain in a series of planned operations “so extraordinary they sounded like movie scripts.
” Another former boss Hayri Goztas - known as ‘Aga’, Turkish for leader - was jailed for 16 years in 2012 for smuggling up to £1 million of heroin into Britain every week. It’s believed he has served his sentence and remains free in the UK - despite a judge ordering he be deported. Now it has been revealed that Tottenham Turks senior leader, Izzet Eren was assassinated in Moldova - in a similar drive-by shooting.
Eren was jailed for 21 years in 2015 for firearms offences in London but was transferred to a jail in Turkey four years later. He escaped after just a month behind bars. 8 Izzet Eren escaped from a Turkish jail but met his end on the streets of Moldova Eren, 41, was arrested by Scotland Yard in Moldova two years ago after an international manhunt tracked him via Ukraine.
At the time, Met Commander Fiona Mallen stated that extradition proceedings were underway, but Eren was reportedly released later. He is believed to have continued managing his gang's operations in the UK while on the run. In 2015, one of his associates was shot dead by police outside Wood Green Crown court in north London during a failed prison break.
Armed officers shot Jermaine Baker, 28, of Tottenham, who was attempting to free Eren from a prison van. Eren’s cousin, Ozcan Eren, 32, was jailed for attempting to free him. The torture and killing of a Turkish DJ is also believed to be linked to the gangs.
Tortured radio host Well-known DJ Koray Alpergin, 43, was kidnapped and tortured to death as his girlfriend heard his dying screams. His partner Gozde Dalbudak, 34, was locked in a toilet in a kebab restaurant near Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium for two days and forced to listen as Alpergin was beaten with a baseball bat, had boiling water poured on him and the soles of his feet repeatedly stabbed. Koray, the owner of London station Bizim FM, was set on fire and his body dumped in woodland in Loughton, Essex, where he was found by a dog walker last October.
8 Radio host Koray told pals he upset the "wrong people." Credit: Facebook 8 Girlfriend Gozde listened to Koray's cries Credit: Central News Four thugs were later sentenced to a total of 48 years. Koray was said to have been heavily in debt and told pals he said “the wrong thing to the wrong people” when he returned home from a summer trip to Turkey.
The Old Bailey heard how the killing had “all the hallmarks of being linked to “serious organised crime - almost certainly drugs.” In May, Dr Simon Harding, Director of the National Centre for Gangs Research Ltd, told The Sun how organised gangs from Turkey are “pretty well established in the UK". He said: "They've got a huge, multi-million pound market, that buys a lot of people, buys a lot of silence.
“"These are heavy, important people with access to firearms. They're shifting 200, 300, 400 million pounds worth of heroin. "They're not going to take it lightly if you tread on their toes.
People will disappear." Expert Ian believes the drugs battle may also be becoming more violent as heroin supplies from Afghanistan dry up after the Taliban put a ban on opium poppy growing. He said: “Historically, most of the heroin from Afghanistan has been trafficked through Turkey at some point.
“Now there is less heroin around and prices have gone up from around £12,000 per kilo pre pandemic to between £23,000 and £26,000. Read more on the Scottish Sun WATER BEAUTY Gorgeous seaside town voted best in Scotland for beautiful beaches & scenery LIKE FATHER LIKE SON Scotland legend's son makes appearance in Rangers vs Man Utd clash “There might be less around but the demand remains the same and that’s when you see a rise in prices. “I’ve no doubt that the competition to stock and move heroin is going to be a lot more competitive - and we all know how competition works in the drugs world.
” 8 CCTV images issued by Metropolitan Police this week of a motorcyclist detectives wanted in connection with the shooting at a restaurant in Kingsland High Street Credit: PA 8 The motorcyclist was seen tearing down the road Credit: PA.
