Liquidations more often take place within one’s own criminal circle than as a result of conflicts with the enemy camp. For example, because of talking to the police, theft or poorly performing criminal tasks. This is evident from a study by Police & Science. Four out of five liquidations are cocaine-related. The number of liquidations has been decreasing since 2017. It does not appear that shooters are getting younger.
by Joost van der Wegen
Different angle
The researchers counted 57 liquidations from 2016 to 2021. Of all cases of murder and manslaughter in the Netherlands, one in twelve is a liquidation. This shows that most of these types of crimes in the Netherlands come from a different source. The number of liquidations has also decreased since 2017.
More than four in five liquidations in the Netherlands are cocaine-related (83%). Such a relationship can be established, especially in the Randstad. For the liquidations in Amsterdam and the surrounding area, the link with cocaine exists in twenty of the 23 cases, for Rotterdam and the surrounding area this concerns thirteen of the fifteen liquidations and in the province of Utrecht all liquidations are cocaine-related.
Randstad
The liquidations mainly take place in the Randstad, during the week and in the evenings. A large proportion of the liquidations take place in North Holland (40%) and South Holland (26%), especially in the Randstad, in or around the cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. With the provinces of North Brabant (12%) and Utrecht (12%) added, the vast majority of all liquidations are included (90%). No liquidations took place in Friesland, Flevoland, Drenthe and Groningen.
Low risk
The research also shows that almost half of the 57 liquidations (47%) can be qualified as liquidations with a low risk for bystanders, because only the perpetrator and the victim are present. On the other hand, 25 of the 57 liquidations take place in situations with a high risk for bystanders. In those cases, the liquidation took place in a room or place with several people and several shots were fired, putting bystanders at risk of being hit or actually being hit.
In less than a quarter of the liquidations (13 of the 57 liquidations) a fully automatic firearm was used, for example a Kalashnikov or Skorpion. Of these, six took place in the Rotterdam area, five in Amsterdam and one in Utrecht. The use of fully automatic firearms is mainly limited to the Randstad.
The researchers see no increase or decrease in the use of fully automatic firearms over the years, and there is therefore no trend in their use in liquidations.
Camp
The motive behind the danger of being liquidated often comes from the ‘own camp’ than from the ‘enemy camp’. The analysis of the police’s so-called murder and manslaughter file shows that less than forty percent of the motives have to do with liquidations of a competitor from the criminal environment, while more than half were aimed at someone from their own partnership. or around it.
The most common motives for liquidating someone from ‘one’s own camp’ are breach of contract, theft (of money or drugs), talking to the police and the judiciary or to someone in the criminal environment.
Men
This research shows that shooters of liquidations are exclusively men with an average age of 29 years old. The average age shows a downward trend, but that does not mean that there are increasingly younger shooters. The number of older shooters is decreasing and the number of young shooters is not increasing. So shooters of liquidations are not getting younger.
The majority of respondents become involved in criminal activities for the first time during their teenage years, often at a very young age. This is due to money problems, growing up in a deprived area, the existence of negative role models, and sometimes a desire for excitement.
