The head of one of the largest criminal organizations in Sweden, accused of provoking a wave of violent crimes, was arrested more than 1,600 miles in Turkey, Swedish police announced on Friday.
Police did not identify the man by name, but the Swedish media appointed him Ismail Abdo, 35, head of the Rumba crime organization and would have orchestrated operations abroad.
Abdo is one of the most sought after criminals in Sweden and the subject of a international arrest warrant Since 2024.
The Scandinavian country, formerly known for its low crime rates, has struggled for years to slow organized crime.
Criminal networks are involved in drug and weapon trafficking, social fraud and regular shots And the bombings that have tormented the country in recent years.
The networks would also have infiltrated the Swedish well-being sector, local policy, the legal and educational system as well as minors’ detention.
Interpol
According to police, the leaders of the criminal networks operate more and more abroad, orchestant murders and attacks via social media and often recruit young children under the age of criminal responsibility to carry out attacks.
Abdo once directed the Foxtrot Crime Network with Rawa Majid – the other most wanted criminal in Sweden who was sanctioned earlier this year By the American Treasury – and the two are suspected of having checked large parts of the Swedish drug market.
But the couple fell, and a new violent chapter in the Swedish gang wars began when Abdo’s mother was murdered in September 2023 at his home in Uppsala, The BBC reported.
The Rumba of Abdo gang has since led a violent quarrel against Majid and Foxtrot.
Abdo was arrested during a raid carried out by Turkish security forces, police said.
“In an operation to apply the law in Turkey, Turkish police have today arrested a Swedish who, for many years, has been suspected of drug -related crimes and to cause serious violent crimes in Sweden”, ” Police said in a statement.
“Arrest is the result of targeted work over time between Turkish and Swedish judicial systems,” said the National Department of Operations of the Swedish Police (NOA).
Recent violence in Sweden
Sweden has been prey to violence in recent months.
In April, three young people aged 15 to 20 killed in a shooting In broad daylight in a hairdressing salon in the center of Uppsala, about 45 miles north of Stockholm.
Fredrik Sandberg / TT News Agency / AFP via Getty Images
A few days before that, a mother and young child were seriously injured when a home bomb tore their home, added the media, adding that a neighbor suspected of links with criminal gangs had been the real target.
Earlier in April, two people were killed in an alleged gang fight in Göteborg, while a The renowned rapper was shot In a gang battle in the city in December.
Sweden has also been shaken by its Worse mass shot in February When Rickard Andersson, 35, entered the Risbergska adult Education Center campus in the city of Orebro and killed 10 people before turning the weapon on itself.
The Swedish government has proposed new legislation that would allow the police to listen to children under the age of 15 in order to limit violence, According to the BBC.
According to the Global Database Statita, Sweden had the third largest number of homicides involving firearms per 100,000 inhabitants in Europe in 2022, behind Montenegro and Albania.
The data of the National Crime Prevention Council of Sweden show that the shots have decreased since the peak year 2022, but the number of explosions has increased.