So the “Fox” eluded the Swedish police

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So the Fox eluded the Swedish police
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SULAYMANIYYA. Swedish police raided Rawa Majid in his hideout in Iraqi Kurdistan.

But by then the “Kurdish fox” had already managed to escape.

– They came to arrest him. But he later told me that, maybe ten minutes before, he felt that he was in great danger, his father tells Aftonbladet.

  • Swedish criminals use Iraq as a hiding place and laundromat for drug money.
  • A couple of years ago, an attempt to arrest Rawa Majid, one of Sweden’s most wanted criminals, failed, despite cooperation between Swedish and Iraqi police.
  • Majid’s father claims that his son escaped thanks to strong intuition.

    • ⓘ The summary is made with the support of AI tools from OpenAI and quality assured by Aftonbladet. Read our AI policy here.

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    Some of the most wanted criminals in Sweden use Iraq as a hiding place, resting place and washing machine for drug money. No cooperation between Sweden and Iraq has led to any extradition or arrest at a higher level.

    But a couple of years ago, Swedish police, in collaboration with Iraqi colleagues, hoped to arrest Rawa Majid. They knew exactly where in Sulaymaniyya he was.

    But when they got there, they were all gone. Left in the apartment were only mobile phones with pictures of how the criminals in Majid’s network spent their time in Iraq with excursions and play.

    Rawa Majid’s father Rekawt Majid has his own explanation for how he got away: his son’s unbeatable intuition.

    “He felt it himself”

    – When there were political problems here, they thought of arresting him with the help of those who have power down here. Swedish police were there. They came to arrest him. But he later told me that, perhaps ten minutes before, he felt that he was in great danger.

    – So he fled, first to another city and then from there to Turkey. It was the prosecutor Henrik Söderman who later said that it was the last chance for us when we cooperated with those politicians down here, or Asaish, as they call the Kurdish security service. “We were going to arrest him, for sure, but a little while before he disappeared. How did he know?” says Rekawt Majid.

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    full screen On a sign overlooking the city, someone has sprayed the name “Rawa”. Photo: Niclas Hammarström

    When Aftonbladet contacts Chamber Prosecutor Henrik Söderman, he confirms that there was cooperation with Iraqi authorities regarding Rawa Majid, “but I don’t want to go into what measures we took and what contacts we had”. The prosecutor also does not recognize the statement about the “last chance”:

    – Rawa Majid is still wanted, so what measures we take, we will keep that within the investigation as long as we can, says Henrik Söderman.

    “Sense danger”

    Instead, the criminal’s father develops his own idea of ​​what happened when his son disappeared.

    What would you guess yourself?

    – He used to say: “Dad, when I feel danger, I have the feeling that I have to get away from there.” That’s how it was.

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    full screenRekawt Majid at restaurant in Sulaymaniyya. Photo: Niclas Hammarström

    Is it not close at hand to believe that someone warned him?

    – No. If it was, he would have told me. I was in Sweden when he called me and he was going to drive through several roadblocks. A week later he was in Turkey, says the father.

    Inside the fortress-like headquarters of the Kurdish security service Asaish in Sulaymaniyya, Colonel Salama Abdul Khaliq receives Aftonbladet as communications manager. However, the colonel has not heard of any Swedish-Kurds involved in drug trafficking, with Sulaymaniyya as a base. Even less about someone who should be extradited or heard.

    Denies familiarity

    Instead, he lists the local drug criminals Asaish has arrested – half of whom are in fact low-level drug addicts.

    – But we welcome more cooperation with Sweden. It is in our common interest, he says and denies any knowledge of any inquiry about Swedish citizens that the Swedish police would be interested in.

    At its height, a few bells ring around the name “The Kurdish Fox”.

    The basic problem is that Swedish law enforcement authorities have not kept up with developments in recent years. This suggests Ashraf Ahmed, former prosecutor and group leader at the Central Agency for International Judicial Cooperation:

    – The fact that the principals are abroad in this part of the world places completely new demands on our authorities: to work more modern and more outreach. One cannot rely solely on the legal track. You have to court the country and your colleagues in the country. Work more intelligence-wise with the countries we are not used to working with, he says and continues:

    – It is a challenge for Sweden – but not only for Sweden but for many other European countries as well.

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    full screen Aftonbladet’s team in Iraq: Photographer Niclas Hammarström and reporter Magnus Falkehed. Photo: Niclas Hammarström

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