Dramatic CCTV shows moment masked killer shoots gangster outside café in gangland attack

A British fugitive is being hunted by police over the murder of Izzet Eren in Moldova as officers release shocking film of the killer running away with a pistol as terrified bystanders look on

Dramatic CCTV shows a gunman as he murdered a gangster suspected of masterminding a shooting that left a young girl fighting for her life.

Wearing a bicycle helmet and mask, the killer is filmed walking towards Izzet Eren as he sits outside a coffee shop in Moldova on a sunny July morning. The assassin disappears off camera for 16 seconds as he fires seven shots at Eren, killing him instantly. A stunned onlooker sitting at a nearby table can be seen jumping to his feet as the gunman runs back the way he came, a silver pistol clearly visible in his right hand.

Murder detective Radu Darii took the Daily Mirror to the scene of the crime in the Eastern European capital Chisinau to reveal new details about the killing. Standing by the Coffee Point cafe, Mr Darii, 43, said: “We in Moldova have not had a problem with organised crime since 2000 so the public were shocked by this murder in a busy cafe during the day.”

Eren, wearing sliders and a tracksuit, was enjoying his daily routine, sipping coffee in the sunshine when he was killed. A mother with a baby in a buggy was just feet away as the bullets were fired.

He is believed to have been a senior member of a violent North London drug trafficking gang known as the Tottenham Turks. The man suspected of shooting him is Kemal Armagan, a leading member of the rival Hackney Bomber clan.

Eren was killed five weeks after a nine-year-old girl was hit by a stray bullet during a drive-by on a Turkish restaurant in Dalston, East London.

The youngster, of Birmingham, was enjoying a meal with her parents on May 29 last year when a gunman on a Ducati motorbike opened fire. In a statement, her parents said: “She only went there for ice cream and now we do not know if she will be able to ever speak or move properly again.”

The intended target was believed to be a Hackney Bomber member who survived a previous attack from the Tottenham Turks. Mr Darii’s team discovered alleged links to the UK shooting after spending days working around the clock examining hundreds of hours of CCTV footage.

An annotated map he produced of the killer’s movements reveals the meticulous planning that went into the crime. The gunman first appears on a motorist’s dash cam crossing a road on an electric bike at 11.15am.

Seventeen minutes later he is filmed walking away moments after the attack before getting back on the bike and cycling to a park. In a spot not covered by cameras, he changes his clothes and is suspected of handing them, along with the gun, to an accomplice who is captured on CCTV driving a hired car.

Wearing a new outfit and carrying a plastic bag, the suspect arrives at a hired flat. Just an hour and fifteen minutes after the murder, he is pictured leaving the city from the bus station. Mr Darii said a key lead was the bike. Only 30 of the type used by the killer had been sold in the country and officers soon found a suspicious customer.

He was caught on CCTV in a nearby mall paying with cash, his face hidden under a baseball cap. But the English speaking suspect left a vital clue. Mr Darii said: “What gave him away was his shoes, they were the same as those worn by the killer.”

At the same time, border officials scrutinising the details of all foreign nationals who left the country in the hours after the murder came up with another lead. A keen-eyed guard mentioned a Cypriot man called “Hassan Kismet Bertash” who had crossed into Romania in a hired car.

Checks soon revealed that “Bertash” had allegedly flown into Moldova from Cyprus with a British former lawyer Toper Hassan, 58, on June 15. Working with the UK authorities officers soon came up with a name that matched the face on Bertash’s passport. It was Armagan, 43, who was already wanted for two other murders.

He had allegedly obtained a genuine Cypriot passport with his picture in it instead of Bertash’s. It was an attack on Armagan by members of the Tottenham Turks in a north London snooker hall in 2009 that is said to have escalated a battle that dates back to 2003.

Mr Darri took us to a flat near the murder scene where the killers allegedly monitored Eren’s movements from a camera fixed on the balcony. Flight records allegedly show Armagan flew on to Bergamo, Italy, having slipped over the border to Romania hours after the murder. Hassan is said to have left Moldova days before the shooting.

The former solicitor who was struck off in 2013, was arrested by National Crime Agency officers at Stansted Airport in August. He is due to appear before magistrates in Central London next month as he fights extradition for the murder.

Police are still hunting for a second British suspect, who Mr Darii believes met the killer in the park, who the Mirror is not naming for legal reasons. He is believed to be hiding in Turkey having allegedly helped the hitman escape from Moldova last July. Following the Moldovan investigation, Armagan was arrested in the Turkish port of Izmir last month.

He is expected to face prosecution in his home country first. Prosecutor Denis Rotaru told the Daily Mirror that his team are still investigating who might have ordered Eren’s killing. Mr Rotaru said from his office in Chisinau: “We think the murder had been planned for a long time but the vendetta itself could date back years.

“We are in touch with our UK colleagues who are very interested in this case. These kinds of criminals need to be stopped and it is our job to pursue them.”