A notorious Kurdish gangster has fled Turkey to avoid extradition on drug-trafficking charges, a Swedish prosecutor has told The National.
Rawa Majid, 39, known as the Kurdish Fox, had been living in Turkey, where his citizenship protected him from being extradited to Sweden, and was widely accused of playing a major part in gang violence.
Authorities had hoped Majid’s prosecution on forgery charges would result in his citizenship being revoked, allowing his return to Sweden.
But Henrik Soderman, who submitted the first extradition request to Turkey, has now confirmed that Majid, who leads the Foxtrot Network of criminals, is no longer in the country.
“We have received information from Turkey that he's not in Turkey anymore,” he told The National. “I have asked for his extradition from Turkey but they rejected that because he wasn’t there.”
Despite Majid's move, Mr Soderman said he was determined to bring the Kurdish Fox to justice. “We have been looking for him for about five years now, and we haven't found him yet. But hopefully time is on our side,” he said.
The prosecutor would not, however, be drawn on where he believes Majid might be now, only saying “I’m going to keep that within the investigation for now”.
Majid's parents are reportedly living in the city of Sulaymaniyah, in Iraqi Kurdistan, and a Swedish politician familiar with the gangster's activities said he is “100 per cent certain” that he is currently hiding out in the border area of Iraq and Iran.
Working for Iran
Majid has been accused of working for Iran by carrying out attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets, and targeting opponents of Tehran's regime, which has resulted in him and the Foxtrot Network being placed under sanctions by the US.
He is the subject of an Interpol Red Notice, which states he is also wanted on murder and attempted murder charges, as well as drugs offences.
Majid reportedly owns a $2.1 million mansion in the Turkish coastal resort of Marmaris and a luxury flat overlooking Istanbul’s business district. Mr Soderman confirmed reports that Majid uses the name Miran Othman in Turkey. The US Treasury also stated he uses the name as an alias.
Among his other brushes with the law in Turkey was his arrest in 2023 in connection with the discovery of $12,400 and 2,400 Turkish lira found on a park bench in Marmaris that the police were able to link to him.
According to the US Treasury, the Foxtrot Network is “one of the most notorious criminal gangs based in Sweden, and has conducted shootings, contract killings, assaults and other forms of violence”.
The syndicate has a presence in other European countries, say the Americans.
Majid was reportedly arrested in Iran in October 2023 but remains at large and is described as a “fugitive” by the US Treasury, which says he was born in Iran but could also be an Iraqi citizen.
Alireza Akhondi, a Swedish MP for the Centre Party, told The National he believes Majid is hiding in an area where he can control his trafficking operations.
“I'm 100 per cent sure that he's in the mountain region between Iraq and Iran, which is a centre for smuggling,” said Mr Akhondi, who was born in Iran and is now a fierce critic of the regime and the activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“We know that he was in an Iranian prison but was released and is also under heavy protection from the IRGC, who are involved in drug smuggling,” he said.
Mr Akhondi said he hoped the Iraqi authorities can work with Sweden to ensure Majid is extradited. “I'm quite sure that Swedish authorities are looking out for him, in Iraq. The question is, how strong are the Iraqi authorities? Are they capable of dealing with this because the Turkish authorities have been unable to.”
Majid’s family settled in the Swedish city of Uppsala when he was a child and he became involved in crime while growing up. He was convicted at 19 of burglary and cigarette smuggling, before he moved on to drug dealing.
He was sentenced to eight years in prison in Sweden in 2010 for drug offences, including the handling of cocaine imported from the Netherlands. Soon after his release he moved to Iraq and then to Turkey.
Foxtrot or Rumba
Also allegedly used by Iran to target its opponents is Majid’s former criminal associate, Ismail Abdo, who leads the Rumba organisation. The rival gangs are wanted by authorities in Sweden on suspicion of ordering killings in a brutal turf war over the country's illegal drugs market.
The violence between them has shattered Sweden’s reputation as a peaceful country and has seen a spate of bomb attacks, with criminals’ families targeted.
Children are recruited by criminal groups to carry out attacks on rivals as under Swedish law no one can be convicted until they are 15, with lighter sentences likely for under-18s.
Majid has been accused of directing the killing of a gang rival in Sweden in 2023 and was later arrested by Iranian police near the Turkish border.
As part of their feud, one of Abdo’s gang members allegedly killed a member of Majid’s organisation last March in revenge for an attack carried out in a cafe in Istanbul.
The violence recently took a turn when gang members' families and loved ones also became targets. Abdo’s mother was shot dead in Uppsala in 2023, a killing Majid is suspected of ordering in retaliation for one of his own gang being attacked. Majid’s mother-in-law survived an attempt to kill her.
