Abderrahim 'Appie' Belhadj (29) shot dead in Kikkenstein flat

Abderrahim “Appie” Belhadj, a 29-year-old Amsterdammer, was shot dead in the early hours of Monday 9 May 2016 on the first floor of the Kikkenstein block in Amsterdam-Zuidoost. At around 05:30 police found him seriously wounded on the gallery of the flat. He had been shot several times, including in his head and chest, and he died at the scene despite attempts to resuscitate him. The investigation showed that Belhadj had been lured to the flat by Jason L., better known as the rapper JayJay and later as Djaga Djaga. The two had seen each other earlier that night in a club. Afterwards Jason L. sent him messages luring him to Kikkenstein with the story that there were women in the flat to have sex with. When Belhadj walked onto the gallery he was lying in wait for him and opened fire. According to later reporting the gunman fired thirteen bullets. Behind the block stood a Kymco Agility scooter that had probably been used in the murder. That scooter had earlier been stolen from a garden on Tekkopstraat in Amsterdam-Zuidoost. Police released images of the presumed gunman early on, but for years it remained unclear who had actually fired. Jason L. was prosecuted for his role as the lure. He was ultimately convicted, irrevocably, to 18 years in prison because he had deliberately lured Belhadj to the crime scene. The murder later also took a place in the Marengo file under the name Aker. According to the Public Prosecution Service the killing was part of the organisation around Ridouan Taghi, and Belhadj is said to have been killed because he had stolen two blocks of cocaine. In the Marengo case the organisation's involvement in the murder was discussed, but the gunman stayed out of view for years. In 2025 that changed. On 22 April 2025 police arrested the 32-year-old Eedward N., who according to the Public Prosecution Service was the gunman; at that moment he was already in custody for another case and was close to being released. The prosecution puts forward two witnesses who state that N. confessed to them that he had shot “Appie” dead, and additionally points to DNA matches on cartridge cases and on the stolen scooter near the crime scene. His lawyer argues that the witnesses saw nothing from their own observation, that the camera footage does not identify him, and that the DNA does not place him at the scene itself. The court nonetheless saw sufficient serious objections and kept him in pre-trial detention; a new hearing followed on 24 October 2025. With the arrest of a third suspect, C.G., the case now counts three suspects. In January 2026 police announced that the investigation had been restarted on the basis of recent witness statements, new forensic material at the crime scene and indications that more people were involved than previously assumed; the team is looking in particular for information about two unknown people who can be seen on camera footage in the flat shortly before the shooting. The murder of Abderrahim Belhadj is therefore not only the case of a man who was lured to a flat and liquidated there, but also a file that years later was still running on through new suspects, new evidence and the possible link with the contract-killing organisation around Ridouan Taghi.