EEF HOOS - The 'Al Capone' of Holland, who fled to Portugal and opened up a pet crematorium - and was interviewed by the PJ over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann

by **Tony Bennett** 07.11.15 9:26

References to the Madeleine McCann case in bold black.

Marvellous comment by a judge in bold red at the end of this article.

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Eef Hoos – From the ‘Al Capone’ of Holland, to a Pet Crematorium in the Algarve, Portugal

I am republishing some information on Eef Hoos, originally published in 2009 by an active Madeleine McCann researcher, now quiescent, but whose flickering embers still produce the odd flame:

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In September 2007 61 year-old Dutchman and retired criminal, Eef Hoos was questioned over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

The Police had claimed he had spoken with the couple. Hoos denies all knowledge of the McCanns and indeed of the disappearance.

When one imagines Gerry, Kate and a young Madeleine McCann ambling along the banks of Amsterdam’s Keizersgracht canal, the furthest thing from your mind are some of the most brutal and wanton murders in recent European memory.

We think of windmills, we think of cheese, we think of little mice with clogs on. We certainly don’t consider the toxic flow of activism, extremism and gangland violence curling through this pretty city like some heaving subterranean channel carving a deep and enduring wound in its watery little soul. There should have been a few clues, of course, for every tulip grown there’s a kilo of dried cannabis, for every pound of Dutch Edam there’s a pound of dodgy diamonds - and for every little mouse with clogs on there’s a lady with no clothes on tendering the sweetest of sins, redeemed only by red light.

Someone who knows this area better than anyone is 62 year-old convicted terrorist, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], long regarded as the former Al Capone of the Hague. As head of the notorious debt-collection agency, Toetanchamon, Hoos was responsible for a series of arson attacks in The Hague and its surrounding environs. Following a negative report about his agency in a Dutch newspaper, the Haagsche Courant, Hoos detonated a car bomb outside the newspaper's publishers, Sijthoff Press. Later, there were a series of attacks on police stations and council buildings when his debt collection agency was denied a permit.

In January 1989, another attack was planned - but this time the explosive failed to detonate. His grievance this time centred on an ambitious construction project. Hoos drew up plans to build a giant mill in the port area of the city, a major tourist attraction likely to put both The Hague and Hoos on the map. Announcing it as the 'eighth wonder of the world' it was clear that Hoos was now driven by a ruthless combination of gratuitous capital gain and a reckless desire to be someone of worth, a man of consequence.

However, his dreams were cruelly shattered by [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], a Dutch politician responsible for city planning. As a result of his botched attack on Duivesteijn, the gangster’s paradise was duly lost and Hoos spent the next 14 years in prison.

Upon his release he set up ‘The Mistake’, a magazine distributed to over thirteen thousand detainees at home and abroad, and Themis, a charitable foundation that would assist in the reintegration of ex-prisoners and act as counsel between detainees and their victims, courts, lawyers, prison staff and probation officers.

During his 14 years detention Hoos had become convinced that the entire justice system was corrupt: “Judges free child murderers just to get more cells they can fill up again.”

The Dutchman’s encounters with injustice had also made him an unlikely supporter of more expansive DNA testing.

In an interview with the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] for their ‘[url=http://www.dnasporen.nl/docs/literatuur/de Molecule versus de Massa.doc]de Molecule versus de Massa[/url]’ report, Hoos went on record as saying that, “We see the DNA test as a nice tool to show that you're innocent, if of course, you are”. It was a statement that would be repeated by the McCanns themselves, when the father of the missing child expressed his frustration at there being ‘no national DNA database in Portugal’.

Named after the Greek Goddess of Justice, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] was the clearest indication yet of an urgent need in Hoos to rise above simple notoriety. It wouldn’t be a project as such; it would to be a crusade. And yet his dreams, whilst seemingly noble and philanthropic, were still predictably marred by a life’s worth of bad habits, and after his Themis office was destroyed by fire in mysterious circumstances in 1999, the Dutchman moved the Algarve, using what Hoos using what money he had left from his misadventures to set up ‘Creon Starlight’, a pet crematorium.

Based on an acre of farmland near the picture-postcard village of [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], amongst the flattering hills of the north west Algarve, Creon Starlight would subsequently feature in one of the region’s most notorious criminal cases: the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

In [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Hoos was approached by officers representing Polícia Judiciária, the CID unit in charge of the investigation. They alleged that he had spoken with the McCanns. In fact, they seemed rather convinced he had spoken to the McCanns:

"They asked if I had spoken with the parents of Madeleine McCann," he said. “They claimed they knew I had spoken to the parents, but it's not true”.

The Dutchman did however support the McCanns in their conviction that someone may have come into the apartment and taken Madeleine:

"I know there are lots of paedophiles in the area where Madeleine went missing."

Hoos was instructed to report to Portimao police station the following week because of his notorious reputation in The Hague. It was at this time that Hoos remembered a strange encounter with a couple that had come to dispose of two dogs. He said the couple claimed to be Polish but offered that they spoke with impeccable English accents. As a matter of course he would usually ensure the contents of the bags, but on this occasion he says he did not.He [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] the couple seemed unemotional and did not ask for the ashes, instead insisting they were scattered on local scrubland. Mr Hoos said: "I am now haunted by thinking, what if one of the bags contained something more sinister?"

The Police had arrived initially at the farm on the pretence of investigating reports of a ‘strange smell’ coming from the farm's incinerators. But this appears to be something of a red herring.

Hoos had already come under considerable pressure to abide by legislation regarding the disposal of remains. Such 'strange smells' had been flagged up on several occasions beforehand. A series of complaints from his Italian neighbours had aroused the concern of Portuguese Ministry of Environment as early as 2006.

At time the Dutchman was being interviewed by Police in connection with Madeleine’s disappearance, the Ministry were already trying to have the crematorium shutdown. Defending himself to a local newspaper, Hoos had reiterated his compliance with the law, the year previously: "We have a new oven, all in accordance with European legislation, computer-driven, so everything is burned at 900 degrees”.

Not quite the backroom operation the press had put it down as, certainly.

If the crematorium business collapsed, Hoos had his debt collection business to fall back on, a business that he had relocated successfully to the Algarve. And failing that there was a roaring trade in counter-surveillance equipment.

In another magazine interview, the Dutchman had revealed his considerable knowledge of a prevailing new underground trend: ‘[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]’. In it, the experienced former director of security at Toetanchamon discussed the various distribution channels used to exchange the tools of the trade, whether it was bugging or encryption devices or more hi-tech espionage equipment.

Should the Portuguese Ministry of Environment shut him down, he could always have tendered his services to the Metodo 3 – the Spanish Investigation Agency hired by the McCanns – and specialists in industrial espionage and financial fraud (the owners of [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] on charges of phone-tapping and industrial espionage). Hoos had described it as a ‘booming business’.

What kind of man is Hoos? Well on the evidence of this alone, it’s difficult to tell. One could present a credible argument for depicting him as a career-criminal with a tendency to intellectualise his crimes, an allegation perhaps best supported by his grandiose and flamboyant gestures: his ambitious tourism projects and his philanthropic Themis foundation. Some might even argue that this is the behaviour of your average extremist, attaching a noble cause to an otherwise self-seeking criminal pattern.

But if it comes down to simple pretensions we could accuse the McCanns of the very same thing: using the wilful neglect of the daughter as a launchpad for a Rights of the Child campaign. They don’t come any more pretentious than that. Perhaps Hoos knew the McCanns in a former life. Perhaps this best explains their likeness.

A man more sinned against that sinning? Perhaps, but then aren’t we all? He certainly claims no small amount of injustice to have been thrust upon him over the years, and perhaps he is right. Rehabilitation and resettlement may be the celebrated cornerstones of a 'new approach' to the management of ex-offenders, but they rarely account for the routine typecasting that exists outside the cells; an offender is an offender for life whether they have been awarded a life sentence or not, a round peg that is made more square just so it never quite fits in the hole. And whilst the rest of us can flex our unconditional right to exist in that hole, the ex-detainee must hover indefinitely around its rim.

For the sake of prudence, however, it might be best to consider the myth of Themis in its entirety: when Justice is disregarded, Nemesis brings just and wrathful retribution.

You can't say they didn't warn you.

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The Ugly-Underneath – A quick summary of important criminal & religious events in and around the Hague and Amsterdam

Nouredine el-Fatmi - Implicated in the murder of self-styled infidel and misanthrope, Theo Van Gogh in Amsterdam in 2004 (although Mohammed Bouyeri was actually charged).

el-Fatimi was regarded by the AIVD (Dutch Intelligence) as one of the main figures in the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] - an Islamist organisation operating out of the Hague and consisting of mostly young Dutch Muslims of mainly North African origin. An old friend of Mohammed Bouyeri, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]was born into a [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] family and grew up in the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] of Morocco.

In his teens he moved to Spain before eventually finding work in Portugal. Although radicalised in the Netherlands he attempted to move back to Portugal. It was here that he was first arrested for planning attacks during the 2004 European Football Championships. It is alleged that he also helped plan an assassination attempt on [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], now president of the European Commission. The evidence against him was found to be inconclusive.

Theo van Gogh/Mohammed Bouyeri - Bouyeri was an alleged member of the Hofstad Network along with el-Fatimi. Born and raised in the Rif Mountains of Morocco - Currently serving a life-sentence for the assassination of [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] in Amsterdam in November 2004. For his part, Theo van Gogh was a controversial and outspoken atheist, who was grossly critical of Muslims and Islam in general.

His crude and fascist sensibilities were fairly indistinguishable from those of his flamboyant contemporary, Pim Fortuyn who slammed Islam a '[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]'. Van Gogh's last book (2003) was ‘Allah weet het beter’ ("[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]") in which he illustrated his views on Islam in his characteristically mocking tone. Gogh also incurred the wrath of leading members of the Jewish community and mocked the Holocaust. In a 1991 magazine interview Van Gogh explained a “[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]” by stating “today they're only burning diabetic Jews”. When he was criticized by the Jewish historian Evelien Gans, he wrote in Folia Civitatis magazine: "[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].”

A day before the murder of Theo van Gogh on 2 November 2004, Nouredine el-Fatmi fled the Netherlands - using a false passport - and travelled to Morocco. Van Gogh's father Johan van Gogh, was a member of the Dutch secret service AIVD.

Pim Fortuyn - Openly gay and openly racist member of the Dutch republican society, Republikeins Genootschap. The far-right populist politician was assassinated by militant animal rights activists, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] in May 2002. Although it was alleged that van der Graaf had links to al-Qaida and the Hague’s Hofstad Network, the gunman said he had worked alone. Van Der Graaf says he killed Fortuyn largely for opposing Muslim immigration and for using those on the weaker margins of society as a platform to advance his dubious political career.

Fortuyn had claimed that if he became part of the next government, he would pursue a restrictive immigration policy while also granting citizenship to a large group of illegal immigrants. He subsequently referred to Holland’s Muslim population as "Moroccan hooligans" asking “[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]” the Dutch were inviting into their society “in the name of multiculturalism”.

Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff - Director of the German Marshall Fund in the US, expert on Foreign Policy and correspondent for both Die Zeit and the Washington Post. Became a serial apologist for the likes of Fortuyn and van Gogh in light of the publication of the ‘Mohammed Cartoons’ in February 2006. In an Op-Ed edition of his celebrated anti-extremism tract, ‘[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]’ asked contributors to ‘[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]’.

What Kleine-Brockhoff failed to register, however, was that van Gogh’s routinely provocative and gross derision of Islam was not confined to radicals.

Thomas-Brockhoff’s father, Karl Kleine-Brockhoff disappeared in the Algarve on June 9th 2007 – some 6 weeks after Madeleine McCann. His badly decomposed body was found in October that year, some hour and a half’s drive from Praia da Luz on the Portugal-Spanish border.
In the book 'Crime Does Not Pay' by Bert Koen Voskuil, Eeef Hoos tells the story of how he was contacted by a [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], a medium and clairvoyant based in the Netherlands who had been charged with trying to smuggle 57 Kilo of Hashish through Morocco in her car. To her credit, the medium calmly explained that she had been using the car on behalf of a friend who had paid for the holiday and did not know that the drugs were in the car.

To his credit, the judge took one look at her business card and said 'I read here that you are a teller and clairvoyant. If you were a good one you would have known the drugs were in the car and that you would be charged with planning to smuggle them'.

Sarina had requested Eef Hoo's help for women in Moroccan prisons.

by Liz Eagles 07.11.15 10:45

I don't know about anyone else on the forum Tony, but that went right over my head and I read it twice. Perhaps someone can explain it to those of lesser intellect.

by skyrocket 07.11.15 15:48

@TB - very interesting!

I can't find any reference to the 2 dogs incident - the Sunday Mirror article seems to have been removed. Hoos Evert Hendrick's statement to the PJ dated 24 Spetember doesn't mention it at all and actually states that the ovens of his crematorium were sealed on the 2 March 2007 by the 'Authority for Food and Economic Safety'. This appears to have been checked by the PJ.

Anyone have a link to the original article?

There are some unusual characters in this case and Hoos is definitely one of them - odd thing to get into from debt collecting.

by **Tony Bennett** 09.11.15 21:50

skyrocket wrote:@TB - very interesting!

I can't find any reference to the 2 dogs incident - the Sunday Mirror article seems to have been removed. Hoos Evert Hendrick's statement to the PJ dated 24 Spetember doesn't mention it at all and actually states that the ovens of his crematorium were sealed on the 2 March 2007 by the 'Authority for Food and Economic Safety'. This appears to have been checked by the PJ.

Anyone have a link to the original article?

There are some unusual characters in this case and Hoos is definitely one of them - odd thing to get into from debt collecting.

Here is the original article from the Daily Telegraph, 21 September 2007.

I think the sentence I've highlighted in bold red might be the most relevant here:

QUOTE

Pet cremator is asked: Did you burn Madeleine McCann's body?

The furnace was shut down after complaints about the smell

by Caroline Gammell
12:01AM BST 21 Sep 2007

A convicted Dutch terrorist who runs a business cremating dead family pets was asked by Portuguese police last night if he had burned the body of Madeleine McCann.

Eef Hoos, 61, uses a site 20 miles from where the four-year-old disappeared. Officers believe Madeleine is dead and that her body has been destroyed.

Two detectives visited Mr Hoos at his run-down farm near Monchique. The property, which has a roundabout and swings in the garden, is marked by a turreted portcullis entrance and guarded by three Alsatians.

From there Mr Hoos operates Creon Starlight, which disposes of animals in huge outdoor ovens built in converted freight containers behind his red-roofed villa.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
The ovens at Eef Hoos's Pet Crematorium

He said he was asked if a body could have been hidden in one of the dead animal carcasses, but said he told police that he checked everything that was burned.

"I have the names of the people and I see what's in the bags. The police want to see my list of clients," he said.

Mr Hoos said the police asked him if he had anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance.

"They asked if I had spoken with the parents of Madeleine McCann," he said. "They claimed they knew I had spoken to the parents, but it's not true.

"I know there are lots of paedophiles in the area where Madeleine went missing."

He said he told the police he was having an eye operation on May 3, the day Madeleine disappeared.

Two weeks ago, he said, helicopters had hovered above his house for two hours.

Mr Hoos, white-haired and bespectacled, said the police had told him to report to Portimao police station on Monday morning because of his notorious reputation.

He spent seven years in jail in Holland after a series of bomb attacks in 1988, in which one person was seriously injured.

"I blew up a police office, it was political," he said.

Mr Hoos's furnace was shut down in February after neighbours complained about the smell. He still carries out incinerations at a site in Lisbon.

by Doug D 16.02.16 17:21

Spotted by Zora and 'google translated':

THE HAGUE - The Hague notorious criminal Eef Hoos is deceased at the age of 69. He died in the night from Thursday to Friday in Portugal, the AD reports. Hoos had long been ill and suffered from diabetes.

Hoos was known as the "Al Capone of The Hague. In the 80s of the last century he was the owner of the Scheveningen 'debt collector' Tutankhamun. The company held an extremely aggressive way of working after. So employees would through violent methods people with debt to pay force.

When the Haagsche Courant published an account of a lawsuit in which Tutankhamun was, this Hoos was concerned so furious that he had committed several arson attacks on offices of this newspaper. Later attacks include a police and social services.

Adri attack Duivesteijn

Also, former alderman Adri Duivesteijn threatened Hoos. After the PvdA politician stopped the arrival of a mill in the port area, an attempt was made to an attack in 1989. In a given table lamp office Duijvensteijn was an explosive hidden.

The bomb did not go off by a mechanical failure. Hoos was always deny anything to do with the attacks have, but it ended up in jail. In total he was fourteen years behind bars.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]