Two police officers have been arrested and suspended from duty for allegedly leaking information about a murder inquiry.

Three other people have also been arrested in connection with the murder, which centres on a suspected gangland killing last September, NRC reported. A fourth man is under investigation for possessing illegal firearms.

In a joint statement, the public prosecution service and Limburg’s police division said the two officers, aged 50 and 25, were suspected of ‘violating professional secrecy and misuse of public office.’ They have been taken off duty and blocked from accessing police computer systems.

The case concerns the fatal shooting of 30-year-old Sven Prins in Heerlen on September 25 last year. Prins was known to be involved in the criminal fraternity and had been the target of at least two other shootings, the second one two weeks before his death.

Police believe he was killed as part of a long-running underworld dispute and hope to learn more about the circumstances when they question the three suspects, aged 31, 36 and 38. All three, as well as Prins, are from Brunssum, a former mining town in Limburg.