Cagdas Baybasin, the son of Hackney Bombers founder Abdullah Baybasin, was repeatedly shot in Dusseldorf after spending the day protesting against the imprisonment of his uncle
Cagdas Baybasin, the son of Hackney Bombers founder Abdullah Baybain
The son of the founder of a gang at the centre of a murderous feud that left a girl fighting for her life has been shot.
Cagdas Baybasin, whose dad is infamous Turkish drugs baron Abdullah Baybasin, was repeatedly hit in Düsseldorf in Germany on Tuesday. Abdullah set up the Hackney Bombers gang that has been locked in a bloody war with the Tottenham Turks that has seen at least a dozen murders.
He was jailed in London for 22 years in 2006 for supplying heroin and later deported. A leading figure of the Bombers was the intended target of a shooting at a restaurant in Dalston, North East London, in May 2024 that left a nine-year-old girl with a bullet lodged in her head.
Abdullah Baybasin set up the Hackney Bombers gang
Following the shooting, a now-deleted message on X, reportedly posted by Cagdas’ uncle Huseyin, 69 – dubbed Europe’s Pablo Escobar – read: “I will find these dogs. I will make your bloodline extinct. I believe from the bottom of my heart that Cagdas will recover. Let all of you who belong to these dogs, along with their entire lineage, go now and hide in whatever dog kennel you can find.”
A source said they believed the violence had no direct links to the UK shootings. He said: “I think we can expect a reprisal to this murder but probably in Spain.”
Huseyin Baybasin is in jail in the Netherlands
Abdullah, 65, who uses a wheelchair, was seen in a Barcelona restaurant in May 2024 with German-Turk drug lord Tekin Kartal, 30, who was shot dead soon after leaving. The Baybasin clan later denied involvement but it is feared the latest shooting could be linked.
Cagdas was a passenger in a taxi on Tuesday when two gunmen opened fire while it was waiting at a red light. One photograph of the aftermath showed a white Lexus with ten bullet holes in the windscreen. Earlier that day, Cagdas and others held a protest in front of the Dutch Consulate in Düsseldorf against the imprisonment of his uncle Huseyin.
Cagdas Baybasin was shot on Tuesday
In December, the administrative court in Utrecht rejected Huseyin’s application for a temporary identity document, which he claims he needs for his release. According to the judge, he cannot be issued with the papers because he is living in the Netherlands unlawfully. Huseyin was jailed for life in the country for complicity in murders and drug trafficking. A decision will be made before March on whether he should finally be released
Abdullah Baybasin shared a video on his TikTok account saying “Today in Dusseldorf my son was attacked. Thank god, his life is not in danger. The culprits were not successful. God is great. This is all I’ll say for now. I’ll soon make another statement.”
A senior member of the Hackney Bombers, Erdal Ozmen, 45, was gunned down in Stoke Newington, North East London, in August amid fears it was a revenge attack. That came over a year after a man on a motorbike opened fire on the Evin restaurant, half a mile from where Ozmen was killed, hitting the little girl.
The gunman who shot the little girl is still wanted(Image: PA)
It is believed members of the Tottenham Turks were attempting to kill rivals from the Hackney Bombers group. Six weeks later, senior Tottenham Turks member Izzet Eren, 41, was shot dead in Chisinau, Moldova, in what is believed to be a tit-for-tat attack.
The Metropolitan Police said at the time that the motive for Ozmen’s murder “remains unclear”. No arrests have been made. Ozmen was previously jailed for 15 years after a Turkish man was shot on the forecourt of a petrol station in Tottenham, North London, in October 2003.
He pleaded guilty to blackmail, possession of a firearm, wounding with intent and arson as part of the same investigation that snared Abdullah. Woolwich crown court heard that Ozmen operated for the Hackney Bombers within the Turkish Kurdish community in North London, ruthlessly exploiting his own countrymen.
The gang collected protection money, practised extortion and had access to weapons, the court heard.