One of the three men arrested on suspicion of involvement in gang shooting last week has been revealed to be the owner of a tropical plant nursery in De Lier, near Hoek van Holland.

The man, who is 31, was picked up after a dna match was found on one of the weapons used in the killing, the Parool reported on Thursday. But his family fear ‘something has gone seriously wrong’ and say the man has no connections to Moroccan drugs gangs.

The Parool also says police have been shocked by the dna match and can find no further link between the suspect and the gangs.

The victim, Reduan Bakkali, was killed at his office in Amsterdam North by a man who pretended to be applying for a job. Police say Bakkali was not involved in criminal activity, but the murder is believed to be connected to his brother, Nabil.

The murder came within a week of the news that Nabil Bakkali had been put in a witness protection programme in exchange for information on a number of murders related to Moroccan gang warfare.

Databank

Three men have been arrested in connection with the killing, including Shurandy S, who has been identified as the shooter. The third man was also identified on the basis of his dna.

The match between the dna on the weapon and the plant grower means that his dna is kept in the national forensic institute databank. The public prosecution department has declined to say what the man had done to merit inclusion.

DNA samples are mainly included in the register if someone is convicted of a crime with a jail term of four years or more.