The European police organization Europol has launched its new “EU Most Wanted” campaign. Since 2016, Europol annually compiles its own list of Europe’s most wanted criminals. Nearly all member states are joining the campaign this year and there are currently 62 fugitives on the site. The 2021 list includes one Dutch person (Christo Hülters) and two Belgians (Flower Bressers on Tom Michielsen).
110 fugitives arrested
Europol reports that a total of 110 fugitives have been arrested since the website’s launch in 2016, 41 of them directly related to tips from the police. EU Most Wanted-website. A total of 16 fugitives were arrested in 2020, and five of these arrests were due to the campaign. In addition to tips from citizens, criminals also report themselves to the police because of the attention that the campaign creates. The fugitives are all wanted for serious crimes, such as murder, drug trafficking and human trafficking.
Christo Hülters
There is one Dutch person on the list: the 40-year-old Christo Hülters. In December 2018 he was sentenced in absentia to twelve years in prison for a double attempted manslaughter in Bergen op Zoom on June 27, 2015. During a children’s party, at which there were about 20 adults and children, two men were shot at close range. Christo Hülters, also from Bergen op Zoom, was the shooter, according to justice.
Reward
According to eyewitnesses, there was an argument in a nearby playground between the daughter of one of the later victims and a boy from the neighborhood. That was calmed down, until Hülters – who knew the boy – suddenly appeared in the party tent with a weapon in his hand and shot the two victims. He has been missing since that Saturday night. The Public Prosecution Service has offered a reward of 10,000 euros for the tip that leads to the arrest of Hülters.
Christo Hülters did sign a statement acknowledging that he was the shooter. He says in it that he acted in self-defense, but the court does not believe that.
Somali
The list also includes a Somali who is said to have Dutch nationality: the 34-year-old Ahmed Tarabi. He was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for attempted manslaughter in England and transferred to the Netherlands in 2018 to serve his remaining 1730-day prison sentence. Europol did not report whether he then fled or escaped.
Belgian drug traffickers
Two Belgians are also on the Most Wanted list: Flor Bressers and Tom Michielsen. Bressers (35), aka “The Tall” from Lommel was sentenced in March 2020 by the Antwerp Court of Appeal to four years in prison for kidnapping and assault in the criminal environment. He is also the main suspect in an extensive cocaine investigation in Bruges that revolves around the Kriva Rochem company.
Business partner Piet S.
The 45-year-old Belgian Tom Michielsen has yet to serve a 4.5-year prison term for international drug smuggling. He is also wanted in the Dutch Taxus investigation into drug suspect Piet S. According to the investigative services, Michielsen and his business partner smuggled many kilos of cocaine mainly within the Netherlands and Belgium. It is possible that Michielsen resides in Spain.
Mistaken murder of 12 year old girl
From an analysis of Crimesite turns out that the oldest suspect on the Most Wanted list 65 years is, the two youngest suspects are 22. It concerns the two Swedish brothers Ferdi Kucukgol on Furkan Kucukgol. They will be together with Serkan Demirkiran suspected of the mistaken murder of a 12-year-old girl at a McDonald’s in a town south of Stockholm, in May 2020. Swedish police say the bullets were aimed at two rival gang members outside the McDonald’s. The three Swedes with Turkish roots are probably in hiding in Turkey.
Many Balkan criminals
In terms of nationalities, the list includes: three Afghans, three Latvians, three Czechs, three Slovaks, three French, two Hungarians, three Swedes, three Lithuanians, four Bulgarians, three Albanians, three Italians, three Croats, three Poles, two Romanians, two Austrians, two Somalis, two Belgians and further fugitives from the Netherlands, Vietnam, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, China, Turkey, Tunisia, Iran, Philippines, Libya, Finland, Macedonia, Estonia and Spain.
Among the fugitives are some criminals sentenced to life in prison, including two Italians from mafia organizations Ndrangheta on Cosa Nostra.
Europe’s Most Wanted 2021 campaign is an initiative of the ENFAST community, composed of specialized police units that track down fugitive criminals.
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