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CRIME

Danish biker gang leader convicted in triple murder case

A highly-placed member of biker gang Bandidos has been convicted of a triple murder in Copenhagen in 2015.

Danish biker gang leader convicted in triple murder case
The apartment block in Frederiksberg where the crimes were committed. File photo: Mathias Løvgreen Bojesen/Scanpix

A second gang member has been convicted of accessory to murder, while a third was found guilty of possessing firearms, reports Politiken.

Police have described the murders, which were carried out while the victims slept, as “liquidations”, reports the newspaper.

According to police, the men's killers climbed a scaffolding to get into an apartment in the Frederiksberg neigbourhood, where they shot the victims as they slept.

READ ALSO: Trial of gruesome Copenhagen triple murder begins

The 34-year-old convicted man, whose role within the Bandidos hierarchy is given the name “minister for war” (krigsminister), did not answer any questions considered to be key to the case, including regarding possession of a revolver, reports Politiken.

This is considered to be a key factor of his conviction by the jury at Frederiksberg court.

The footprint of a Fred Perry shoe was also one of the decisive pieces of evidence.

A 27-year-old man who is the brother-in-law of the convicted man was acquitted of murder but found guilty of being in possession of a revolver used in the crime.

The 34-year-old is reported to have laughed with his defence lawyer in court shortly before the verdict was read.

The third convicted man, aged 25, was found guilty of being an accomplice to the crime but acquitted of being one of the three people that climbed a scaffolding before gaining access to the Frederiksberg apartment on November 11th 2015 to carry out the killings.

Mike Vinther, Philip Rasmussen and Suhaib Jaffar were shot to death by a revolver and shotgun in the early hours of the morning.

Nine people were initially arrested in April 2016 following investigation of the murders.

CRIME

Why Copenhagen police say crime is on the up in Christiania

Crime in Copenhagen’s hippie enclave of Christiania is increasing, police in the capital say following a number of drugs-related arrests.

Why Copenhagen police say crime is on the up in Christiania

Copenhagen Police arrested three men on Saturday for selling cannabis on Pusher Street in the alternative enclave of Christiania, as they continue their efforts to stamp out the area’s former open-air cannabis market. 

According to police, 875 people were arrested for selling cannabis in the first 11 months of 2022, more than in any other year over the past four years. 

A possible explanation for the increase in arrests could be that the rewards for operating hash stands have receded, according to a police spokesperson.

“It is extremely unattractive to stand out there, and therefore a lot of new people come in who have no idea what it is all about. Many of them come from outside the catchment area, and some of them are peripherally associated with a criminal group,” Simon Hansen, head of a Copenhagen Police special unit, told newspaper Politiken.

“It’s a bit – in inverted commas – ‘easier’ for us to catch these people,” he said. 

Around half of the stalls in the street are linked to various gangs and biker gangs, such as Satudarah, Bandidos, Hells Angels and Loyal To Familia, with the rest run by people living in Christiania, the Berlingske newspaper reported earlier this month.

The trend of rising crime occurs against a background of potential housing develop in Christiania, as the enclave’s residents decide on a plan to put affordable housing in the area.

Copenhagen Police last year told news wire Ritzau that the majority of people who are arrested within Christiania come from socially underprivileged or marginalised backgrounds.

They are exploited in gang and biker circles, resulting in them in some cases operating the illicit hash market stalls, according to the police.

Conflicts between organised crime groups have reportedly become more frequently aired in the Pusher Street market.

READ ALSO: Denmark’s ‘freetown’ Christiania hangs onto soul, 50 years on

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