Swedish police confirm arrest of notorious gang leader Ismail Abdo in Turkey
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"Today, Turkish police arrested a Swedish man in a police operation in Turkey who is suspected of carrying out serious narcotics crimes for many years, as well as instigating gross violent crimes in Sweden," Swedish police wrote in a press statement.
Turkish news bureau Anatolia was first to report on Abdo's arrest, which has now been confirmed by Swedish police.
"The arrest is the result of targeted efforts by Swedish and Turkish authorities," Mats Berggren, acting deputy head of the police's National Operations Department (NOA) wrote in the statement. "Swedish police have assisted in the investigation which led to the arrest."
According to media reports, Abdo is reportedly one of 19 suspects arrested in a large-scale operation carried out by Turkish authorities in multiple different cities in the country.
State prosecutor Daniel Jonsson is working on a number of cases Abdo is involved in.
"I've put out an international warrant for him and he's also listed on Interpol," he told TT, although he did not comment on why ‒ or whether ‒ Abdo has been arrested this time.
"We've been working for a long time to try and get him back to Sweden," Jonsson said.
Abdo was previously the right-hand man of Rawa Majid, leader of the Foxtrot gang.
He fell out with Majid in 2023, sparking a wave of deadly shootings in Sweden. Since then, arresting him has been one of the Swedish police force's top priorities. He is wanted in Sweden for multiple drugs offences and for anstiftan till försök till mord, instigating attempted murder.
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Abdo holds Turkish citizenship and was arrested in 2024 by police in Turkey during a traffic control. He was released on bail despite the international warrant against him.
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Local Sweden
a day ago
- Local Sweden
Inside Sweden: Minister's family member's white supremacist links expose double standards
The Local Sweden's editor Emma Löfgren rounds up the biggest stories of the week in our Inside Sweden newsletter. Advertisement Hej, This week, anti-racist magazine Expo broke the shocking story that a Swedish government minister has a family member who is allegedly active in, and trying to recruit people to, extreme right and white supremacist movements. It's a story that comes with several ethical conundrums. On the one hand, if a minister in any government has that close links to someone said to be involved in organisations that promote violent neo-Nazi ideals, it's clearly a potential security risk and a reason to resign on the spot. This is the government that's pushed through some of the harshest immigration reforms in years. Surely it's relevant if a minister risks being influenced – even hypothetically – by white power groups, or if, say, a foreign power wanted to use the information against the minister to harm Sweden? After days of silence, the minister eventually sent an anonymous comment to the TT news agency late on Friday, via the prime minister's press secretary, requesting to stay anonymous due to the young age of their family member. "Last week I found out that a close relative in their early teens has been hanging out in completely the wrong circles. I detest all kinds of political extremism and strongly distance myself from it," said the minister. Advertisement "I have had long and frank conversations with the minor who is both remorseful and sad. All association with these circles is a closed chapter." They added that they had acted according to the standard security procedures and been working closely with the security police ever since they found out. It's important to say that we don't know what's going on behind the scenes. We don't choose our relatives. Perhaps the minister as they say knew just as little about it as the rest of us – perhaps they are, right now, as torn apart by it as anyone would be. Arguably, a minister should be judged on what they do on the job – is it really anyone's business who happens to be part of their family? Advertisement The family member in question is also underage. That's a strong reason why the mainstream media haven't been naming the minister – it's not to protect the minister, it's to protect the family member, who is not a public figure and hasn't been convicted of any crimes. Swedish media tend to be more restrictive than in many other countries when it comes to naming people, especially when publishing damaging information about them. This is perhaps also the reason why the story made surprisingly few waves in the Swedish media. Although most mainstream newspapers covered Expo's report, and in some cases got their own comments, it's been tricky to cover it in any real depth without revealing identifying information. But there are good reasons why this is an important story, and it must be possible to talk about while showing compassion and understanding of the fact that the minister may very well be facing a difficult time in their private life right now – and that young people can sometimes end up on the wrong track. Advertisement But, here's another but. Imagine that a politician could be linked to radical islamism through a family member. There would be an outcry. The current government would be the first in line to call for their resignation. And it has spoken on several occasions about, for example, parents in largely immigrant suburbs being responsible for keeping their children away from gangs. So are we responsible for our family members or not? Last year, the government pushed through a law change which means that if a tenant's child commits a crime that has a negative effect on their neighbours' living situation, it should be possible to evict the entire family. The government's far-right Sweden Democrats allies want to make it possible to revoke an entire family's residence permits if one of their members is involved in serious crime (again, just to be clear, no information has emerged that suggests the minister's family member is suspected of any crimes – but some of the groups they've been associated with promote a violent ideology). Advertisement And time and again, immigrants are told by ministers that they are responsible for raising their children, making sure they integrate and learn Swedish, setting clear boundaries to stop them getting involved in unacceptable activities, and so on. When many of them are surely fighting just as hard as anyone would, including ministers, to prevent their family members from straying off-track, and are as torn apart about it as anyone would be that they failed. The government's silence on the minister's indirect links to white supremacism via a family member is not a good look, and it must surely be unprecedented for a Swedish minister to make a statement that's not only anonymous in the published article (let's assume there have been plenty of ministers behind anonymous leaks over the years) but in which the government even refuses to disclose their identity to the news outlet the statement is given to – which in addition makes it impossible for the journalist to ask follow-up questions. Perhaps it is a closed chapter, as the minister says. But plenty of questions remain unanswered – and perhaps even more importantly, let it be a lesson that it's time to show other families compassion in return? In other news Sweden launched in-person ID checks for citizenship this spring, with all applicants having to attend before they can become Swedish citizens. The Local spoke to a reader about their appointment to find out what to expect. Just over 2,000 letters have so far been sent out to citizenship applicants, inviting them to book the mandatory ID check at the Migration Agency. Mahmut, originally from Turkey, came to Sweden as an asylum seeker back in 2017 due to political unrest in his home country. Now, he is in citizenship limbo and believes Swedish security police have branded him a security threat, without telling him why. Becky Waterton's interview is this week's must-read. Want to take a dip in a Swedish lake, but you never learned to swim? We've republished our guide to where you can get lessons as an adult. GAMES: Have you tried The Local's games for Membership+ subscribers yet? We've got a new crossword and word search puzzle out now The Swedish government has launched an inquiry over concerns about the country's low birth rate, with the aim of proposing concrete measures to improve it. As part of the 25th anniversary of the Öresund bridge connecting Copenhagen and Malmö, the prime ministers of both countries pledged to make it easier to live and work across the Swedish-Danish border. Becky has a few ideas. The Swedish government has pledged to attract international talent, while radically limiting asylum and low-skilled immigration. So why do work permit holders so often get the short end of the stick? A government-appointed inquiry has concluded that there is no need for a national begging ban, despite demands from the Moderates and Sweden Democrats to introduce one. July brings with it cheaper flights, summer holidays and pay rises ‒ for government ministers at least. Here are the new laws and events happening in Sweden this month. Hope you have a lovely weekend, Emma Löfgren Editor, The Local Sweden Inside Sweden is our weekly newsletter for members which gives you news, analysis and, sometimes, takes you behind the scenes at The Local. It's published each Saturday and with Membership+ you can also receive it directly to your inbox.
Local Sweden
2 days ago
- Local Sweden
INTERVIEW: Probe into minister's relative has revealed 'threat to Swedish security'
In early July, anti-racist magazine Expo broke the news that a family member of a Swedish government minister was active in white supremacist groups. The Local spoke to Erik Glaad, one of the journalists behind the story, to find out more. Advertisement How did Expo carry out the investigation? 'This investigation is based on following the digital trail left by the minister's family member,' Glaad said. 'By doing so, we've been able to document extreme right-wing activity and engagement since August 2024.' The close relative of the minister, neither of whom were named in Expo's report, has 'sought out and joined' what Glaad described as some of Sweden's most racist groups, including Det fria Sverige and Aktivklubb Sverige. The individual – described in Swedish as an anhörig, which usually refers to a close family member – has also collaborated with an activist from Nordiska motståndsrörelsen, Glaad said, a group which was classified as a terror group by the USA last summer. Who are these groups and why are they dangerous? 'Det fria Sverige is a group with the long term aim of taking back Swedish society from immigrants, which, they believe, are occupying it,' Glaad said. 'They want to build a separatist movement in society for white people.' 'Nordiska motståndsrörelsen is potentially Sweden's most well-known neo-Nazi organisation, with a long history of political violence, and Aktivklubb Sverige is a violent neo-Nazi network which exists internationally with a few branches in Sweden.' The individual's involvement in Aktivklubb Sverige is of particular concern as Swedish police believe that the group is actively trying to map Swedish officials as potential targets for blackmail. 'They take part in combat training, with the long-term goal of creating a right-wing extremist militia, and the network they are a part of has access to weapons and explosives," Glaad said. The journalist added that there is no evidence in Expo's investigation to indicate that the relative in this case was targeted by any of these groups as a potential way of getting closer to the minister in question, and that they appear to have sought the groups out by themselves. Advertisement Why hasn't Expo named the minister? Expo has not named the minister in question or given any details as to the relationship between the minister and the person involved in the white supremacist groups, other than describing them as 'a young person'. Asked why Expo chose not to reveal the minister's identity, Glaad said: 'It's an ethical decision." He said it was difficult to go into too much detail without revealing specific details. 'Generally, though, you can say that within Swedish press ethics there is a very clear framework for who should be protected and who should not be protected from potential publicity damages," he said. Publicity damages, or a publicitetsskada in Swedish, take into account things like the age of the person the information concerns, as well as their role in society – for example if they are a public figure or not. 'Because of that, we've made decisions that would not have been necessary in other cases. But in this case, that's why we've had to do this hard anonymisation," Glaad said. Advertisement In other words the press is not protecting the minister from potential damages, but rather their family member, whose identity would also be revealed if journalists named the minister. "This is regarding a child who is not a public individual,' the government's deputy head of communications Linda Hallenberg told the TT newswire. Glaad did not wish to comment on the age of the minister's family member or give any other details which could reveal the identity. How does Expo know that the minister and the activist have a close connection? Expo also established a connection between the family member and the minister, among other things due to the fact that they appear in photographs together. 'There are other types of details which I can't discuss here, because of the limitations placed on this due to the anonymity, but we have been able to securely establish a connection between the family member and the minister,' he said. Expo mapped the family member's actions online, including on a number of social media accounts and in chat groups they gained access to. What has the minister said about this? Advertisement At the time of writing, the minister's team had had almost a week to respond to requests for comment from Expo. 'They have refused to answer any questions. They stopped responding to us once we told them we were going to publish this story and asked for a response to our questions,' Glaad said. 'We contacted the minister's press office on Thursday [June 26th] and our contact with them ended late that evening. Since then I've tried to restart that contact and say we want a response to our questions, but that hasn't happened, because they haven't replied to us at all. There's been complete silence from them since [June 26th].' Glaad added that it is 'clearly a sensitive issue for the government." 'These are questions like 'is the minister aware of this engagement in right-wing extremist groups?', 'did the minister tell the Security Police or another security service about this?', 'when did that happen?', 'how did the minister find out about their family member's engagement in these groups?'. Questions which should be easy to answer but which they have chosen to stay quiet on," Glaad said. Why is the story important even without naming the minister? Glaad said that the investigation shows "there is a threat to Swedish security", and that in itself is important enough to inform the public about even though the minister's identity has been anonymised. According to Kim Hakkarainen, a Swedish security expert Expo spoke to, the connection between the minister and their relative could be a security risk. "It's a weakness which could be used by an antagonist, for example another state or antagonistic actor who wants to harm Sweden, in order to influence or use the minister's family member as an enabler," he told Expo. Glaad added that he understands the decision to anonymise the minister involved 'has caused reactions,' and that other media organisations may make different decisions. 'Other Swedish media might come to a different conclusion and that's up to them. That's how it works in the Swedish press, every editorial team makes its own decisions on what to publish, and that can vary a lot.'
Local Sweden
2 days ago
- Local Sweden
Swedish police confirm arrest of notorious gang leader Ismail Abdo in Turkey
Internationally wanted Swedish gang criminal Ismail Abdo, also known as 'The Strawberry', has been arrested in Turkey, Swedish police have confirmed. Advertisement "Today, Turkish police arrested a Swedish man in a police operation in Turkey who is suspected of carrying out serious narcotics crimes for many years, as well as instigating gross violent crimes in Sweden," Swedish police wrote in a press statement. Turkish news bureau Anatolia was first to report on Abdo's arrest, which has now been confirmed by Swedish police. "The arrest is the result of targeted efforts by Swedish and Turkish authorities," Mats Berggren, acting deputy head of the police's National Operations Department (NOA) wrote in the statement. "Swedish police have assisted in the investigation which led to the arrest." According to media reports, Abdo is reportedly one of 19 suspects arrested in a large-scale operation carried out by Turkish authorities in multiple different cities in the country. State prosecutor Daniel Jonsson is working on a number of cases Abdo is involved in. "I've put out an international warrant for him and he's also listed on Interpol," he told TT, although he did not comment on why ‒ or whether ‒ Abdo has been arrested this time. "We've been working for a long time to try and get him back to Sweden," Jonsson said. Abdo was previously the right-hand man of Rawa Majid, leader of the Foxtrot gang. He fell out with Majid in 2023, sparking a wave of deadly shootings in Sweden. Since then, arresting him has been one of the Swedish police force's top priorities. He is wanted in Sweden for multiple drugs offences and for anstiftan till försök till mord, instigating attempted murder. Advertisement Abdo holds Turkish citizenship and was arrested in 2024 by police in Turkey during a traffic control. He was released on bail despite the international warrant against him.
