A UK gang boss suspected of orchestrating a drive-by shooting that left a nine-year-old girl critically injured has been killed in Moldova.
Izzet Eren, 41, was shot seven times while sitting outside a café in the capital Chisinau in a suspected revenge attack.
Eren, the head of the Tottenham Turks organized crime gang, was dressed in shorts, sliders, and a baseball cap when he was shot by a gunman on an electric scooter on Wednesday.
He died instantly, with three bullets hitting his head, The Mirror reports.
British detectives are reportedly investigating a possible connection to a shooting in Dalston, northeast London, in May, where the nine-year-old girl and three men aged 26, 37, and 42 were wounded.
One of the men was a suspected member of the Hackney Bombers, previously shot in the neck by a possible Tottenham Turks member.
The two gangs have been embroiled in a long-standing feud, resulting in over 20 murders and numerous kidnappings as they vie for control of the drug trade.
The assassination of such a prominent member of the Tottenham Turks has raised concerns of escalating violence.
A source said: “This is thought to connect to the shooting in Hackney.
“The concern is that it’s all going to kick off now with retaliation expected on the Hackney Bombers.”
A Scotland Yard spokesman said on Thursday: “The Metropolitan Police are aware of reports of the death of a 41-year-old man in Chisinau, Moldova.
“The man’s identity has not been officially confirmed by Moldovan authorities.”
Eren was sentenced to 21 years in London in 2015 for being armed with a submachine gun with intent to murder a rival.
In August 2019, he was transferred to a Turkish prison to complete his sentence but escaped a month later.
Scotland Yard’s specialist international manhunt unit tracked Eren to Moldova, where he was arrested in 2022.
He had reportedly entered through the pro-Russian breakaway region of Transnistria 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 Interior Ministry of the former Soviet state told Reuters that a convicted Turkish drug dealer seeking asylum was killed while seated on a café terrace in Chisinau’s upscale Riscani district.
The assailant made off as chief of police Viorel Cernauteanu said on national radio that the shooting had all the makings of a very well-planned operation.
Police revealed security camera footage of the alleged attacker, who was wearing a helmet.
The victim, whose identity was withheld by the Interior Ministry, was allegedly suspected of trafficking heroin and was listed as wanted by Interpol.
Although his asylum application had apparently been denied, the court case was still pending.