Sweden on Friday announced a string of charges against a suspected crime boss who allegedly gave orders from the Balkans to one of the country's most notorious gangs.
The 38-year-old man was extradited from Serbia where prosecutors believe he "directed the activity" of drug traffickers in Sweden. He faces a nine-day trial next month on more than a dozen drugs and weapons charges, which he denies.
Swedish media said the suspect was linked to a gang called Foxtrot, a key player in the country's feared underworld. Last year it was revealed Foxtrot was one of two rival gangs believed to have been recruited by Iran to carry out attacks on dissidents and Israeli interests in Europe.
Sweden has for years been fighting an epidemic of gangland violence in its major cities, shattering its reputation as a peaceful country. Swedish police have estimated there are 14,000 active gang criminals and another 48,000 people loosely affiliated with the outfits, which are known to have recruited children, although the number of shootings and explosions dropped last year.
The suspect arrested in Serbia is believed to have overseen a trade in "vast quantities of narcotics and weapons", according to an EU criminal justice agency, Eurojust, involved in his extradition to Sweden in December. It said some accomplices had already been convicted and others were under investigation.
Using phone records and messages, detectives have "put together a puzzle to conclude that it is this particular person who directed the activity", Swedish prosecutor Johanna Kolga said. She described the suspect as a "high-ranking leader" in the criminal network.
Homes were searched in Serbia and its Balkan neighbour Montenegro as part of the investigation, which Ms Kolga hailed as showing that "thanks to good international co-operation, we can get to criminals abroad". Turkey previously rejected a request from Sweden to extradite suspected Foxtrot boss Rawa Majid, a dual citizen also known as the Kurdish Fox.
The crime gang's activities are believed to have stretched from the major cities of Stockholm and Gothenburg to smaller Swedish towns, prosecutors say. Denmark has previously discovered dozens of cases of gangs hiring criminals from across the border in Sweden.
Swedish parties agreed last month that dual citizens who threaten national security could be stripped of their passports in a "fundamental change" to nationality law, but failed to agree on doing the same for gang members. Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer warned that tackling gang violence was a "critical democratic issue".
