Notorious Swedish crime boss arrested 1,600 miles away

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The caput of 1 of Sweden's biggest transgression organizations, accused of instigating a surge successful convulsive crime, has been arrested much than 1,600 miles distant successful Turkey, Swedish constabulary said connected Friday.

Police did not place the antheral by sanction but Swedish media named him arsenic 35-year-old Ismail Abdo, caput of the Rumba transgression enactment and alleged to person been orchestrating operations from abroad.

Abdo is 1 of Sweden's astir wanted criminals and the taxable of an international apprehension warrant since 2024.

The Scandinavian country, erstwhile known for its debased transgression rates, has struggled for years to rein successful organized crime.

Criminal networks are progressive successful cause and arms trafficking, payment fraud, and regular shootings and bombings that person plagued the state successful caller years.

The networks are besides reported to person infiltrated Sweden's payment sector, section politics, ineligible and acquisition strategy arsenic good arsenic juvenile detention care.

Police accidental the leaders of the transgression networks progressively run from abroad, orchestrating murders and attacks via societal media and often recruiting young children nether the property of transgression work to transportation retired the attacks.

Abdo erstwhile led the Foxtrot transgression web unneurotic with Rawa Majid -- Sweden's different astir wanted transgression who was sanctioned earlier this year by the U.S. Treasury -- and the 2 are suspected of having controlled ample parts of the Swedish cause market.

But the brace fell out, and a new, convulsive section successful Sweden's pack wars began erstwhile Abdo's parent was murdered successful September 2023 astatine her location successful Uppsala, the BBC reported.

Abdo's Rumba pack has since waged a convulsive feud against Majid and Foxtrot.

Abdo was arrested successful a raid conducted by Turkish information forces, constabulary said.

"In a instrumentality enforcement cognition successful Turkey, Turkish constabulary person contiguous arrested a Swedish antheral who for galore years has been suspected of drug-related crimes and instigating superior convulsive crimes successful Sweden," police said successful a statement.

"The apprehension is the effect of targeted enactment implicit clip betwixt Turkish and Swedish judicial systems," Mats Berggren, acting lawman main astatine the Swedish police's National Operations Department (NOA), said successful the statement.

Recent unit successful Sweden

Sweden has been plagued by unit successful caller months.

In April, 3 youths aged 15 to 20 were killed successful a shooting successful wide daylight astatine a hairsbreadth salon successful cardinal Uppsala, astir 45 miles northbound of Stockholm.

Just days earlier that, a parent and her young kid were severely injured erstwhile a homemade weaponry tore done their home, media reported, adding that a neighbour suspected of ties to transgression gangs had been the existent target.

Earlier successful April, 2 radical were killed successful a suspected pack combat successful Gothenburg, portion a renowned rapper was changeable dead in a pack conflict successful the metropolis successful December.

Sweden was besides rocked by its worst wide shooting successful February when 35-year-old Rickard Andersson entered the Campus Risbergska big acquisition halfway successful the metropolis of Orebro and changeable dormant 10 radical earlier turning the weapon connected himself.

The Swedish authorities has projected caller authorities that would let constabulary to wiretap children nether the property of 15 successful an effort to curb the violence, according to the BBC.

According to planetary database Statista, Sweden had the 3rd highest fig of homicides involving firearms per 100,000 inhabitants successful Europe successful 2022, down Montenegro and Albania.

Data from Sweden's National Council for Crime Prevention amusement that shootings person declined since the highest twelvemonth 2022 but the fig of explosions person increased.