Flamur Beqiri: Murder trial hears victim was 'involved in organised crime'

Flamur Beqiri is the brother of Misse Beqiri, who appeared in Real Housewives Of Cheshire

A man who was shot dead in front of his family on Christmas Eve was "involved in serious and organised crime", a court has heard.

Father-of-two Flamur Beqiri, 36, was allegedly murdered outside his home in Battersea, south-west London, in 2019.

Prosecutors claim Mr Beqiri's killing was part of escalating violence between two rival networks from Sweden.

His wife, Debora Krasniqi, has denied he was a gangster during the ongoing murder trial.

Swedish police detective inspector Kajsa Delmar-Wigstrom on Tuesday told Southwark Crown Court he was part of an organised crime network involved in "violent rivalry" with another group in the Scandinavian country.

She said Mr Beqiri, whose sister Misse Beqiri, 35, appeared in reality television show The Real Housewives Of Cheshire, was "involved in serious and organised crime".

The officer said the Swedish/Albanian national was suspected of "international drug dealing" since 2007 and had been arrested on "several occasions" in Europe.

The killing was captured on CCTV

The court heard his close friend Naief Adawi, 37, who lived nearby in London, was jailed for eight years in Denmark in 2010 for aggravated robbery with a lethal weapon. It was described to jurors as "one of the largest such crimes" in the country's history.

Adawi was targeted by gunmen outside his Malmo apartment on August 26, 2019 while he was carrying his newborn baby daughter, who he dropped while running away.

He and his child survived but his partner Karolin Hakim, 31, was shot several times and killed.

Adawi has recently been arrested and charged, along with 15 other people, with offences including attempted murder, preparation to commit murder, instigation to commit murder and illegal possession of firearms.

A man wearing a latex mask posed as a street cleaner in the days before the shooting, Southwark Crown Court heard

The jury was told the targets of the plot were members of a rival organised crime network linked to Amir Mekky, 24, who was involved in "large scale trafficking of cocaine and cannabis".

Prosecutor Peter Ratliff said: "The allegation is they were the targets because they were believed to be responsible for the attempt on his life?"

"Exactly," detective inspector Wigstrom said.

Daniel Petrovski, 38, another close associate of Mr Beqiri, has also been charged alongside Adawi, after he was sentenced to five years imprisonment in June for an aggravated drugs offence.

Mr Beqiri was shot dead on Battersea Church Road

The court heard Mekky associate Zakaria El-Khayyati was murdered after he was arrested and released over the kidnap of Petrovski's younger brother.

Mr Beqiri's wife, Debora Krasniqi, has previously denied her husband was a criminal, telling jurors he was involved in the music business.

She can be heard screaming and cradling her two-year-old son in dramatic CCTV footage of the shooting, moments after they arrived hand in hand with the victim.

Their three-month old baby and the children's three grandparents were inside as Mr Beqiri was hit by eight bullets as he was shot at 10 times.

Flamur Beqiri was attacked just yards from his home in Battersea Church Road

Alleged shooter Anis Hemissi, 24, is said to have worn disguises, including latex masks and a litter picker's outfit, to carry out reconnaissance in the days before the murder.

Hemissi, who flew into London on December 20 and left the country for Copenhagen, Denmark, in the early hours of Christmas Day, was allegedly part of a team of four killers from Sweden.

They are alleged to have planned Mr Beqiri's killing for about six months, hiring local people to clean up once they had returned home.

Hemissi denies murder and possession of a self-loading pistol.

Swedish nationals Estevan Pino-Munizaga, 35, Tobias Fredrik Andersson, 32, and Bawer Karaer, 23, who are alleged to have been sent to assist Hemissi, also deny murder.

UK national Clifford Rollox, 31, of Islington, north London, and Dutch national Claude Isaac Castor, 21, from Sint Maarten in the Caribbean but resident in the UK, deny perverting the course of justice.

The trial continues.