A Dutch underworld figure targeted by gunmen in central Marbella had fled the Netherlands after police foiled an earlier plot to kill him, it has emerged.
Named only as Nourdin B.Z., the man survived both incidents, with the second attack unfolding on Avenida Ramon Gomez de la Serna shortly after 2.15pm on September 8.
Shots were fired near a hotel, a man received treatment for a leg wound and Spanish police arrested three suspects.
An investigation by Dutch newspaper Het Parool links the Marbella shooting to an alleged cross-border pursuit involving young recruits, intermediaries in Denmark and a longstanding rival based in Morocco.
The earlier assassination plot was disrupted in Amsterdam on March 18, it is claimed.
A security guard at a Limehome property in Amsterdam-West reportedly heard what he recognised as a firearm being loaded inside a fourth-floor room and alerted police.
Officers found several weapons and arrested two young people, aged 16 and 19, identified as Swedish and Norwegian nationals.
Investigators believed Nourdin was the intended target. He subsequently moved to southern Spain, but his enemies apparently tracked him down.
Almost six months later, two other young suspects allegedly opened fire on him in Marbella.
Het Parool identified the three people arrested over that attack as Emil P., a Danish national; Matthew B., a Dutch national; and Junaid M., who is also from Denmark.
Junaid is described as a suspected recruiter. Investigators are also examining a July visit to Amsterdam by Matthew and Junaid, which they suspect may have been an effort to locate Nourdin.
According to the newspaper’s sources, the possible instigator is a Dutch-Moroccan man from the Brabant region who lives in northern Morocco and has a longstanding feud with the target.
Shortly after the Marbella shooting, a video circulated showing five masked men carrying rifles and handguns. One held a photograph of Nourdin while another accused him of stealing 500kg of cocaine.
However, sources cited by Het Parool suggested the recording could have been staged to mislead investigators about the people behind the attacks. The theft allegation has not been established.
The reporting also examines possible connections to Foxtrot, the Swedish-origin criminal network associated with Rawa Majid, known as the ‘Kurdish Fox’.
