Gangster Caner Kocer is said to have made threats online before he was shot by two gunmen in the popular Spanish resort of Torrevieja in front of a terrified mum with her baby
British tourists are on alert after a Turkish crime boss was murdered in a popular Spanish resort amid fears the shooting could spark a gang war.
The victim, named as Caner Kocer, 30, was gunned down on Sunday evening in the centre of Torrevieja, south of Alicante on the Costa Blanca. Two hitmen fired six shots from close range before fleeing in a getaway car waiting nearby which was driven by a third suspect.
Witnesses to the 7pm attack, in the old town area near the seafront which is popular with tourists, included a mother with a baby in a pushchair. Turkish media reported Kocer is one of the leaders of an organised crime gang known as the “Daltons” who have been in dispute with rivals the Caspers group. It comes after a man brutally killed a woman on a first date and left her body parts around town.
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Three Turkish men have reportedly been arrested. The Daltons gang are said to be part of a new generation of Turkish criminal who target young people through social media platforms like TikTok, ensnaring them into carrying out extortion and robbery. Turkish media has reported that Kocer’s gang are now preparing to retaliate raising fears of further bloodshed in Spain.
A member of the Daltons gang was extradited from Georgia to Turkey last month suspected of a string of shootings in Istanbul. And the gang are also suspected of carrying out a string of shootings in Greece in recent years including in May when gunmen opened fire at undercover police officers.
Bullets were fired at the cops as they followed Daltons members who were suspected of being in the process of planning another hit. Kocer had been making threats on social media before his killing and was pictured pointing a gun at the camera alongside words in Turkish which translate as: “Spain’s greatest duck hunter cannot miss the target. He knows the ducks very well. You will swear allegiance.”
He was shot as he walked by a town centre restaurant. Pictures from the scene showed police and paramedics treating him as lay by the restaurant terrace. Nearby streets were cordoned off until late Sunday as forensic officers carried out a finger-tip search of the scene. Six bullet casings from an automatic firearm are said to have been removed.
Three suspects are understood to have been held around 40 minutes after the murder. Turkish media reports said the Daltons Gang are a violent criminal organisation which started out in Istanbul and have been in the news in recent years for assassinations abroad.
The Costa Blanca has seen a number of violent incidents involving British and Irish nationals in recent months. The body of Belfast man John George was found hidden in an orchard in Rojales near Torrevieja on January 7. He had been shot.
Alleged killer Jonny Smyth, also from Northern Ireland, was extradited to Spain in April after being arrested in Braga in northern Portugal on March 25 and remains on remand in prison. On May 13 an Irishman was left critically injured after being shot in the head near a shopping centre in Orihuela Costa just north of Torrevieja.
Belfast man Dan McMeekin was stabbed nearby in June. He was knifed in the neck and rushed to Torrevieja Hospital for a life-saving emergency operation.