Notorious Swedish crime boss arrested in Turkey: Police
Police did not identify the man by name but Swedish media named him as 35-year-old Ismail Abdo, head of the Rumba crime organization and alleged to have been orchestrating operations from abroad.
Abdo is one of Sweden's most wanted criminals and the subject of an international arrest warrant since 2024.
The Scandinavian country, once known for its low crime rates, has struggled for years to rein in organized crime.
Criminal networks are involved in drug and arms trafficking, welfare fraud, and regular shootings and bombings that have plagued the country in recent years.
The networks are also reported to have infiltrated Sweden's welfare sector, local politics, legal and education system as well as juvenile detention care.
Police say the leaders of the criminal networks increasingly operate from abroad, orchestrating murders and attacks via social media and often recruiting young children under the age of criminal responsibility to carry out the attacks.
Abdo once led the Foxtrot crime network together with Rawa Majid -- Sweden's other most wanted criminal -- and the two are suspected of having controlled large parts of the Swedish drug market.
But the pair fell out in 2023, and a wave of ruthless, escalating violence was triggered when Abdo's mother was shot dead in September 2023 in an act of revenge.
Abdo's Rumba gang has since waged a violent feud against Majid and Foxtrot.
Abdo was arrested in a raid conducted by Turkish security forces, police said.
'In a law enforcement operation in Turkey, Turkish police have today arrested a Swedish man who for many years has been suspected of drug-related crimes and instigating serious violent crimes in Sweden,' police said in a statement.
'The arrest is the result of targeted work over time between Turkish and Swedish judicial systems,' Mats Berggren, acting deputy chief at the Swedish police's National Operations Department (NOA), said in the statement.
According to global database Statista, Sweden had the third highest number of homicides involving firearms per 100,000 inhabitants in Europe in 2022, behind Montenegro and Albania.
Data from Sweden's National Council for Crime Prevention show that shootings have declined since the peak year 2022 but the number of explosions have increased.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
36 minutes ago
- Arab News
Sweden jails four men in killing of hip hop star
STOCKHOLM: A Swedish court on Wednesday sentenced four men ages 19 to 22 to prison terms for their roles in the killing of a rapper in last year. Masked 26-year-old rapper C. Gambino — whose real name was Karar Ramadan, and not to be confused with American rapper Childish Gambino — was the victim of a shooting in a parking garage in the city of Gothenburg on June 4, 2024. A total of four men were charged over the killing, two of which had been charged with 'murder or aiding and abetting murder' — but the court could not definitely establish that the two had fired the killing shots. 'The shooting was akin to an execution and caused the victim severe suffering,' judge Anne Rapp said in a statement. 'Furthermore, the crime had its origins in a conflict between criminal networks and was committed using firearms in a public place, which is a particularly aggravating factor,' Rapp added. The investigation had not shown that the rapper himself was active in a criminal network, but people in his entourage were reportedly linked to these networks, said the court. One of the four men, aged 22, was sentenced to life imprisonment for aiding and abetting murder because he had participated in the planning and preparation of the murder, notably by providing the car used by the perpetrators. The car was later burned and completely destroyed. A 20-year-old man was found guilty of both aiding and abetting murder and aggravated harboring of a criminal was sentenced to 15 years and six months in prison. A third man, aged 21, was sentenced for aiding and abetting murder to 12 years and six months in prison. A fourth man, aged 19, was handed a much lesser 10-month prison term for protecting a criminal and vandalism. C. Gambino was named hip hop artist of the year at the 2024 Swedish recording industry's Grammis Awards the month before his murder. Another award-winning Swedish rapper, Einar, was shot and killed in Stockholm in a gang conflict in October 2021. The Scandinavian country has struggled to contain surging gang violence in recent years, with shootings and bombings now weekly occurrences.
Arab News
3 days ago
- Arab News
Dubai Police extradite three Interpol most-wanted suspects to Belgium
DUBAI: Dubai Police have arrested and extradited three high-profile suspects wanted by Belgian authorities in connection with serious cases of cross-border organized crime, following a coordinated international effort involving Interpol and Europol, it was announced on Sunday. The three Belgian nationals, Mathias Akyazili, Giorgi Faes, and Othman El-Ballouti, were apprehended in Dubai after Interpol red notices were issued against them, the Emirates News Agency reported. All three were listed as most-wanted individuals by Interpol and Europol. The suspects face multiple serious charges in Belgium, including operating a notorious gang, trafficking narcotic and psychotropic substances, robbery, and human trafficking. The operation was led by Dubai Police's General Department of Criminal Investigation in collaboration with the UAE Ministry of Interior, WAM added. 'Such coordinated efforts support the strengthening of a strong global security framework that confronts criminal activity with full force while promoting the exchange of international expertise and best practices in policing,' a Dubai Police spokesperson said. It followed international arrest warrants submitted by Belgian authorities to the International Cooperation Department at the UAE Ministry of Justice, the designated central authority for handling such requests. The transfer was authorized by the Dubai Court of Cassation, in accordance with bilateral agreements between the UAE and Belgium. Upon the suspects' arrival in Belgium on July 13, Abdullah bin Sultan Al-Nuaimi, UAE minister of justice, and his Belgian counterpart Annelies Verlinden held a phone call to discuss the extradition. During the call, both ministers emphasized that the successful operation reflected a shared commitment to the rule of law, international judicial cooperation, and combating transnational organized crime and drugs-related violence, WAM reported. Verlinden thanked UAE authorities for their support, adding that the extraditions were 'a testament to the deepening legal partnership between the UAE and Belgium' and 'to their shared determination to ensure that individuals accused of serious crimes are brought to justice.' She commended the role of the UAE's judicial and law enforcement institutions throughout the extradition process and also praised the emirates' ongoing cooperation in line with the extradition treaties signed between the two countries in December 2021, which came into force in November 2022. Al-Nuaimi reaffirmed the UAE's commitment to enhancing bilateral judicial collaboration and also stressed the importance of international cooperation in tackling global crime and ensuring justice through strong legal frameworks.
Arab News
3 days ago
- Arab News
Apartment fire in Turkiye's Ankara kills 3, including a baby
Istanbul: A fire at a 26-story apartment building in the Turkish capital, Ankara, killed three people, including a three-and-a-half-month-old baby, local media said. The blaze broke out at around 10:00 p.m. local time Saturday night on the fourth floor and quickly spread through the structure, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. It took firefighters four hours to put out the fire. The agency also reported that 39 suffered light smoke inhalation, including seven firefighters. Paramedics attended to 26 people on site, while 20 others have been hospitalized, one in critical condition.
