In recent years, the term “changer” has been seen more and more often when the criminals’ encrypted chats have become public in preliminary investigations. In Uppdrag gränskning, professional criminals say that the “exchangers” and their networks not only receive the gangs’ money, store and transport it. They also borrow on credit and handle payments for drugs, weapons – and murder.
– They have built a system just like the Swedish banks, more or less, says a gang criminal, who did not want to be interviewed on camera.
Few want to talk openly about the gears. One who was prepared to do so was former Foxtrot champion Mustafa “Benzema” Aljiburi.
He was prepared to meet with SVT for an interview about the exchange system in his hometown of Baghdad. He, like other criminals, depended on money changers to move large sums of money. They have become crucial for the gangs.
The gears bear all the risk
They can receive millions and through the informal and global transfer system Hawala offer payments where the customer wants, for example for the payment of drugs.
The money changers bear all the risk if the money is confiscated and usually take around ten percent of the total amount as a fee. They like to work with people who run businesses and have legal income.
There is a money changer that several criminals mention as a key person for Swedish gangs. It is an Arabic-speaking man who calls himself “Jenny” in encrypted chats, who is said to have collaborated with, among others, the Foxtrot network.
Mustafa “Benzema” Aljiburi claimed he never met him.
– No one has done it.
On January 8, the day after the last contact with SVT, Mustafa “Benzema” Aljiburi was shot dead in Baghdad as a consequence of the ongoing gang war following the split within Foxtrot.