Updated 14:26 | Published at 2:19 p.m
Gang leader Rawa Majid is suspected of being behind a violent spiral of murders, explosions and threats.
Through a newly issued citizenship, he is so far safe in Turkey, where the Swedish justice system cannot access him.
But government documents obtained by Aftonbladet show that citizenship was applied for under a different name, and Räven’s fingerprints may lead to his eventual return to Sweden.
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37-year-old Rawa Majid, the internationally wanted leader of the Foxtrot network, is suspected of being behind a large number of serious crimes in Sweden in recent years.
In recent weeks, a split within the Foxtrot network has resulted in several new murders, attempted murders and explosions.
The so-called Kurdish fox himself rules from Turkey – and the fact that he can give murder commands remotely without being able to be prosecuted in Sweden has become a hot political issue.
Aftonbladet has obtained documents which show that Rawa Majid received his Turkish membership under a different name, something SVT was the first to tell.
The fingerprints showed the correct identity
In April 2019, Rawa Majid emigrated to Iraq. Even though he was paroled at the time, and was actually under the supervision of the Correctional Service, he was allowed to travel because of the threat that existed against him at the time.
There he changed his name to Miran Othman.
According to documents from the Ministry of Justice that Aftonbladet has seen, Turkish authorities have tested Rawa Majid’s fingerprints and determined that he gave Miran Othman as his name when he applied for – and was granted – Turkish citizenship.
The document was issued in June last year, and the officials state then that Rawa Majid will not be extradited because he has obtained citizenship.
But the fingerprints and the name change could lead to Rawa Majid losing his citizenship and thus also being extradited to Sweden to stand trial.
According to SVT, a legal process is underway in Turkey where Rawa Majid is suspected of forgery.
“Contacts in the right environment”
The prosecutor in the case believes that there was a crime of forgery in connection with Majid becoming a citizen of Turkey and that he tried to hide the fact that he was internationally wanted by changing his name.
Michael Sahlin, former ambassador to Turkey, says that the purchased citizenships in Turkey are incomprehensible even to him, but that they have become something of a prestige thing for Turkey.
– This is a state-economically important issue for Turkey. If you hand them over as having bought citizenship, it is bad for business.
SVT recently revealed that criminals with Swedish connections who are hiding in Turkey are a growing group, that at present there may be as many as hundreds of designated criminal individuals in whom the Swedish police have a direct interest – but who cannot be reached.
According to Sahlin, being able to buy citizenship as requested internationally indicates that Majid also has good political contacts in the country.
– Then I don’t think just money is enough, you also have to have contacts in the right environment, says Michael Sahlin.
Bought citizenship
Majid was arrested in absentia for the first time in August 2020 for extremely serious drug offenses and was wanted internationally, but by then he had already left Iraq.
In 2020, he bought a villa for 400,000 dollars (equivalent to approximately 7 million Swedish kronor) in the city of Bodrum in southwestern Turkey and settled there, according to the Turkish journalist Timur Soykan.
Under a new law enacted in 2018, foreigners can apply for Turkish citizenship after purchasing a home for at least $250,000. Another option is to deposit at least 500,000 dollars in one of the Turkish banks. It gives a kind of “golden passport” in the country.
After his property purchase, Rawa Majid was granted Turkish citizenship under the name Miran Othman.
Majid has also according to it Turkish journalist Timur Soykan bought a property in Istanbul, the property that was shelled on September 6 and which was the start of the wave of violence that has since hit Sweden.
“Many lives on their conscience”
The fact that the 37-year-old can sit in another country and remotely control a war on Swedish soil has, after the latest wave of violence, ended up high on the political agenda.
Both the Left Party and the Social Democrats have in recent days demanded that Turkey extradite Rawa Majid.
– No other country would have accepted that a person with so many lives on his conscience lives a life of luxury and lives like a king in Turkey and that their government does nothing, Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar has said.
The government has referred to the fact that Rawa Majid is a Turkish citizen and that the possibility of extradition is therefore a dead end for Swedish legal authorities.
The M-led government has chosen to proceed cautiously while waiting for Turkey to approve the Swedish NATO application. The fact that Swedish security policy is now in Turkish hands makes it difficult for the Swedish government to make tough demands on Turkey.
Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer (M) has previously told Aftonbladet that he assumes that Turkish authorities have an interest in prosecuting criminals staying in the country. This despite the fact that Turkish authorities have not yet prosecuted Rawa Majid.
At the same time, the Prime Minister, who is responsible for the judiciary, points out that the question of the citizenship of criminals must be investigated.
– There are claims about citizenship in a number of individual cases and we will have to see if it has merit or if it is, so to speak, conclusions that there may be reason to reconsider in the future, says Gunnar Strömmer.