Shooter Gunned Down Flamur Beqiri in Organised Crime Dispute

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Trial hears of meticulously planned Christmas Eve shooting in Battersea

24-year-old Anis Hemissi

February 16, 2022

A Swedish man has been found guilty of the murder of Flamur Beqiri, who was fatally shot outside his home in Battersea on Christmas Eve 2019.

During a ten-week trial at Southwark Crown Court details emerged of how a dispute between two organised crime groups based in Sweden escalated to the extent that a man was flown over to London to gun down Flamur Beqiri in front of his family in a carefully co-ordinated operation. Mr Beqiri was the brother of former Real Housewives Of Cheshire star Misse Beqiri.

Flamur Beqiri

24-year-old Anis Hemissi, a Swedish national, was also convicted of possession of a firearm. 35-year-old Estevan Alexis Pino-Munizaga, also Swedish, was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter for helping arrange the hit. Two other men were convicted of participating in a clean up operation after the hit.

Homicide detectives from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command launched an investigation and identified CCTV that tracked the movements of Hemissi before and after the shooting.

It was quickly established that he had stayed in a flat in Lombard Road a short distance away from Flamur’s home address, in the days before the murder.

Further investigation revealed that meticulous planning had gone into securing the flat for Hemissi to stay and organising a clean-up operation after the murder.

Video material submitted during the trial

In the days after the murder, Hemissi was quickly identified as the prime suspect through analysis of CCTV and enquiries with third parties within the travel industry.

Hemissi was tracked travelling to and from a flat at Oyster Wharf, which was less than half a mile away from Flamur's home address. He posed as a street cleaner to allow himself to linger by the location.

Following liaison with Swedish authorities, it was established Pino-Munizaga had booked a flat in the Oyster Wharf complex in November. Although it appeared he did not stay in the flat, Pino-Munizaga did meet the owner to collect the keys.

During this visit to London which consisted of only 14 hours, he took money out of a cashpoint just 100 yards from Flamur’s home address and he also bought a bicycle.

The prosecution case was that this allowed him to check the route and distance between Oyster Wharf and the victim’s address. The bicycle he purchased, a distinctive 'lady's style' with a basket, was the same one used by Hemissi when he was in London.

Pino-Munizaga then attempted to book the same flat, but it was unavailable so he booked an alternate flat offered to him and stayed in it overnight on 16 December 2019.

Hemissi arrived in London two days later and he travelled to the flat Pino-Munizaga had booked and picked up the bicycle he had bought for him.

During the next couple of days, Hemissi used the bicycle to travel to Flamur’s home address and carry out surveillance.

On 22 December he was captured on CCTV wearing an elaborate disguise including a latex mask, sunglasses and a high vis jacket, which he used to pose as a street cleaner, as he was carrying a black sack and a litter picker.

On the day of the murder, 24 December, Hemissi arrived near to Flamur’s home address at 6.52pm. He waited there until Flamur returned from a meal out with his wife and collecting their two-year-old son from a birthday party, shortly before 9pm.

Hemissi killed Flamur after he discharged a semi-automatic pistol towards him nine times at close range. He then cycled to the flat in Oyster Wharf and a few hours later got a taxi to Heathrow Airport.

On Christmas Day, two British men, Clifford Rollox and Claude Castor travelled to the flat, and entered using a key that had been left under the mat by Hemissi. Castor and Rollox then removed a large distinctive case left by Hemissi and other items from the flat. They then got a cab to an address in Enfield. Another taxi journey was booked from Oyster Wharf to the area of Rollox’s home address in Haringey on 27 December. The police search of the flat revealed the bike and litter picker used by Hemissi. Forensic analysis of a number of items in the flat were also linked to Hemissi by DNA and fingerprints.

The prosecution alleged that the pair had been responsible for cleaning the flat but their planned return visit on 27 December was thwarted by a police presence at the address.

31-year old Clifford Rollox of Glenwood Road, Haringey, and Claude Castor, of Percival Street, Islington were both found guilty of perverting the course of justice.

Enquiries were also made relating to purchases of clothing by Hemissi, identified through analysis of his banking transactions. These showed, in October 2019 in Sweden and Denmark, he brought the hat, high vis jacket, high vis trousers and boots he was seen in when carrying out the ‘litter picking’ near Flamur’s home address.

Detective Inspector Jamie Stevenson, the lead investigator in the case, said’ “This was a meticulously planned murder that originated from a dispute between organised criminal groups in Sweden.

“The fatal shooting, at point blank range in front of the victim’s wife and young child, was a deeply shocking and distressing incident.

"The two-year investigation into the murder was one of the most complex and wide-ranging taken on by the Specialist Crime Command in recent years.

"A range of expertise in the Met including homicide detectives and forensic teams solved the case via analysis of more than 1,000 exhibits and 800 hours of CCTV. More than 500 witness statements were also collated.

“This was an investigation that also demonstrated Scotland Yard’s strengths in working with the CPS and international law enforcement agencies, in particular Swedish Police.

"The swift work of Met detectives, during the two days after Christmas, was crucial in identifying Anis Hemissi as the shooter, but also the flat where he had stayed for the days leading up to Flamur’s murder.

"Gaining possession of the flat so quickly prevented the 'clean-up operation' from being completed and left us with a number of forensic opportunities, including a torn up air ticket with part of Hemissi's name on it.

“We worked to co-ordinate a series of arrests in Sweden and then successfully extradited these men back to the UK.

“The investigation also uncovered the role of two British men who helped in disposing of evidence after the murder in an attempt to hinder the police investigation.

“I am pleased these men have now be brought to justice for their part in what was one of the most shocking crimes London has seen in recent years.”
Senior Crown Prosecutor Louise Attrill, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This was a shocking, cold-blooded and brutal murder of a man in front of his young family on Christmas Eve. The intention was clear – to kill. Flamur Beqiri was gunned down on his doorstep in front of his wife and two-year-old child. Multiple shots were fired at close range. The murder was deliberately carried out in a way that would cause maximum terror and trauma given the date, place and circumstances.

“The prosecution case included CCTV footage, telephone evidence, and eye-witness testimony. But the trail of evidence led through Europe – and in particular to Sweden. The roots of this horrifying violence stemmed from an organised crime gang war in Sweden. Something we had to work with our international colleagues to piece together.

“This has been one of the most complex prosecutions in recent years on the CPS London Homicide unit. It involved a huge amount of international liaison with Swedish Police and Prosecutors who were already investigating a number of other connected incidents in their own country. I hope today’s verdicts bring some sense of justice to the family and friends of Mr Beqiri. Our thoughts remain with them at this time.”

Bawer Karaer, aged 23 and Tobias Fredrik Andersson, aged 32, both Swedish nationals, were found not guilty of murder and manslaughter.

Sentencing for the four other men on trial will take place on Friday 18 February.