Aftonbladet can now reveal how a Swedish police report points out Rawa Majid’s money launderers in Turkey.
A 37-year-old Iraqi is said to have helped the “Kurdish Foxes” exchange tens of millions in bitcoins.
According to the information in the report, the transactions are linked to the company “Al-Mutahdun for Exchange” – which Israel accuses of terrorist financing.
The Financial Police is part of the intelligence unit of the police’s national operational department (Noa) and investigates money laundering and terrorist financing.
In a report from earlier this year, the unit asks Europol for help with information about the “Kurdish Foxes” – Rawa Majid – money launderers in Turkey. According to information to Aftonbladet, the report states that the Financial Police has intelligence that Rawa Majid’s narcotics network uses professional money changers to launder its income.
– He is believed to use those closest to him to transfer large sums via crypto. He is also said to have invested heavily in real estate in Turkey, partly to launder money and partly to secure his assets. But he is of course not written on the properties himself, says a source to Aftonbladet.
Using bitcoin
The report was drawn up before the split in the Foxtrot network, and therefore mentions Ismail Abdo – nicknamed “The Strawberry Man” – as having handled the money transactions.
Several “bitcoin wallets” linked to Ismail Abdo have made payments to at least four accounts managed by the same person, at different crypto-currency exchangers.
This individual is a named 37-year-old Iraqi citizen, residing in Turkey.
The Financial Police’s investigation from earlier this year shows that at that time, more than the equivalent of SEK 50 million had passed through his accounts since the end of 2021. A significant part of this is considered to be money that comes from the Swedish drug trade.
According to information to Aftonbladet, some of the transactions, which were made via the blockchain network Tron, can be linked to accounts and addresses linked to “Al-Mutahdun for Exchange” – a company that of Israel accused for being behind terrorist financing.
Representative of the company has denied this connection.
Protected by Chief of Police
Two weeks ago, Aftonbladet was able to reveal how top-secret information handed over to Turkey ended up with criminals in Sweden.
A police report that would stop Rawa Majid’s activities instead appeared on a mobile phone belonging to a person in his network.
Swedish police considered the operation cleared and suspected that the leak took place in Turkey.
Aftonbladet’s disclosure attracted a lot of attention in Turkey, where several opposition politicians have now demanded that the circumstances surrounding Rawa Majid’s citizenship be investigated. The question of who is actually protecting Majid has been raised with the Turkish parliament.
On Monday, Aftonbladet was able to reveal that that protection reportedly comes from a police chief in Istanbul.