Dutch police are hunting the killers of an Irishman whose remains were discovered in a burnt-out apartment near The Hague. Police believe the victim had been badly beaten before he died.
The man, who was in his late 20s or early 30s and is believed to have been from Co Clare, was repeatedly shot at point-blank range, according to police.
His body and those of two Dutch companions had been doused in petrol and set alight in their apartment early last Saturday morning.
Residents were evacuated from the luxury apartment block at the Gevers Deynootweg, which overlooks the beach at Scheveningen on the outskirts of The Hague, after the fifth-floor apartment was engulfed in flames.
Panic broke out in the apartment block where hundreds of holidaymakers were staying as fire and smoke swept through the high-rise building.
First reports from the police indicated that the three male occupants of the apartment died of natural causes in the fire. But following further examination and the identification of the three bodies, police are convinced they were murdered as a result of a dispute between criminals.
A police spokesman yesterday said: "We believe it was a criminal settling an old score which most probably involved drugs.
"These murders were the work of total professionals. They didn't leave a trace behind them, and identifying the victims has been extremely difficult. It had all the hallmarks of a coldblooded liquidation.
"It was the kind of crime we associate most with big-time drugs cartel crime syndicates. These were brutal and merciless killings, and the aim was to destroy all evidence."
Police found the charred remains of the Irishman and his two companions on the floor in the three-bedroom apartment.
According to a neighbour who lives on the same floor "a very well-dressed South American, or they could have been east European men, were spotted occasionally calling on the Irishman and his companions".
The neighbour added that the smell of cannabis from the apartment during the past couple of years was "overpowering".
The identities of the victims have not been released.
A pub acquaintance of the Irishman, who had lived in Holland for a number of years, last night said: "I never knew his name and he never told it to any of the Irish he met in the pub, but we had the feeling that he was involved in a pretty heavy scene."