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fullscreen Wanted gang leader Rawa Majid is said to have been recruited by Iran, according to the Mossad. Archive image. Photo: Customs
The criminal networks Foxtrot and Rumba have committed crimes against Israel’s embassy in Stockholm on behalf of Iran, according to the Israeli intelligence service Mossad.
Säpo has confirmed that Iran uses Swedish gangs as proxies.
This is what we know about what has emerged.
During Thursday, several media, including DN and the Jerusalem Post, reported information from the Mossad that Iran is hiring criminal networks from Sweden to attack Israeli targets in Stockholm.
They allegedly used both the Foxtrot network, led by Rawa Majid, and Rumba, led by Ismail Abdo, to plan and carry out acts against Israeli and Jewish targets.
How should the networks have been recruited?
Majid and Abdo were former friends but ended up on opposite sides in a bloody conflict when the Foxtrot network split last year. A large number of murders, attempted murders and explosions are linked to the conflict. After the split, Abdo is said to have started the network that the police named Rumba.
Both are wanted and are abroad. Above all, they must have stayed in Turkey, where they obtained citizenship.
According to Mossad information, Rawa Majid was recruited by Iran when he fled Turkey in the fall of 2023, when the authorities allegedly tried to revoke his Turkish passport. He is said to have been arrested in Iran and faced with a choice: prison or cooperation, according to the Mossad.
Ismail Abdo is also said to have been in Turkey for some time and was recently arrested there on suspicion of weapons offences. He was released on bail shortly afterwards. There is no information from the Mossad about how Rumba is supposed to have been recruited by Iran.
What events are linked to the networks?
According to Mossad, Foxtrot is believed to be behind an incident in Stockholm in January when a hand grenade was thrown at the Israeli embassy, without detonating.
According to the information from the Mossad, Rumba is said to be behind an incident when shots were fired at the embassy in May. A boy under the age of 15 was arrested the same evening on suspicion of involvement.
What do the Swedish authorities say?
Säpo and the police have confirmed that Iran uses criminal networks to carry out acts of violence against other states, groups or persons in Sweden. Specifically, Israel and Jewish interests are mentioned as targets.
Säpo states that in recent years it has dealt with several cases where assassination plans with connections to Iranian security services were averted in Sweden, when, among other things, criminal networks were used as proxies.
The Swedish government is reacting strongly to the information and Foreign Minister Tobias Billström has said that Iran’s envoy in Sweden should be summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
What does Iran say?
The Iranian embassy in Sweden refutes the information from Säpo and the Israeli intelligence service that Swedish gangs act as proxies for Iran.
On the embassy’s website, the information is called “fake news” and “false and made up”. Furthermore, it is said that the information is spread deliberately from Israel to shift the focus from the “genocide in Gaza”.