Gang leader Mostafa Aljiburi, also known as Benzema, planned a large-scale drug center in Iraq before he was murdered in Baghdad.
TV4 Nyheterna and Kalla fakta have been given access to unique information from the Iraqi police’s preliminary investigations. There it appears that the new drug factory would be financed through fraud by Swedish banks.
The murder of “Benzema”, whose real name is Mostafa Aljiburi, shocked many. In the middle of Baghdad, in broad daylight, the gang leader is shot dead.
Three Swedish gang members are quickly arrested and are now sentenced to death.
In the Iraqi police’s investigation, it has also come to light that “Benzemas” planned to start a new drug trade in Iraq, which Kalla Fakta and TV4 Nyheterna were able to reveal yesterday.
New details are also how the gang leader intended to finance his drug trade.
– They had already established several fake companies in Sweden that would trick the banks into giving them loans. Then they would go with the money to Iraq so they could start their business, says security analyst Abu Raghif, who has insight into the Iraqi police’s investigations.
One of the approaches
That the violent criminal gangs use fraud to get income has been known for several years by the Swedish police.
Lotta Mauritzon, who is national coordinator at the National Fraud Centre, says:
– We know that it is one of their approaches. It can be phone fraud, but it can also be card or bank fraud, she says.
Both the police and the banks try to stop the fraud by revealing false information about income, employment and the like, but it is difficult. One of the problems is understanding the extent of the fraud.
– We don’t know how much it is, because the banks don’t want to give us that information. They are trying to stop this themselves, she says.
Bank Secrecy
The difficulties in cooperating are primarily about the law on bank secrecy to protect customers, but at the same time it leads to losses for the banks.
Lotta Mauritzon hopes that it will be easier to collaborate in the future. In order to stop multicriminal groups, coordination is required between society’s various bodies, she believes.