Executions, bombings & child assassins – how Sweden became a gangland hell ruled by druglords Kurdish Fox & The Greek
SWEDEN has become a gangland bloodbath plagued by executions, bomb attacks, and child soldiers rampaging the streets.
Innocent bystanders - including a 12-year-old girl - are being gunned down as a country that was once deemed peaceful and safe becomes a terrifying gangster paradise.
Sweden has grappled with gang violence for decades but the latest surge has been exceptional - fuelled by notorious druglords dubbed Kurdish Fox and The Greek.
Police have been placed on standby ready to prevent brutal murders and explosions - and the country's leaders are preparing to deploy the military.
As the conflict between gangs bleeds out of the inner circles and onto the streets, blameless teens are found dead near their family homes after being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Human lives and family homes are being ripped to shreds amid the ongoing gang warfare, as the country chillingly reaches the highest level of children prosecuted for murder since 2019.
Now, officials are facing a major challenge as they attempt to restore their country to the peaceful destination it once was.
"It's been a slow process, but it started in Malmo, south of Sweden, around 2010," says Nikoi Djane, a gangster turned criminologist who grew up around gangs in Stockholm.
"And the conviction rate is extremely low for these crimes, which has contributed in people continuing and killing each other."
The former criminal admitted he "participated in violence" when he was younger - during a time when the situation "was not as deadly as it is today".
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"At that time shooting and killing was not a trend, so luckily it wasn't that serious," he said.
"The same situations I was involved in back then would have resulted in shootings today."
According to Djane, the gang-related violence began after a series of conflicts between two groups resulted in bystanders being gunned down.
Now, he said, it's spiralled into "taking strategic measures to win alliances or to create conflict by destabilising one group in order to take over".
Djane said it's also about "honour and respect", adding: "Disrespect is a major factor behind the shootings."
And with the conviction rate being "extremely low" for these crimes, the shooters are rarely jailed, meaning they're "out on the streets and a target for retaliation", he said.
"So for every unsolved murder, there are more target numbers created which equals more potential murders," Djane explained.
Just two decades ago, Sweden had one of the lowest gun violence deaths per capita in Europe.
Now it is at the top of the league - with 2.5 times the European average.
Last year, more than 60 people died in shootings in Sweden - the highest on record, and this year is set to be the same or worse.
It's a war going on. They try to inflict harm in any way possible
Nikoi Djane
Sweden's prime minister has been forced to summon the head of the armed forces to help curb the surge in gang killings - vowing to "hunt" down gangs and "defeat" them.
Gangs are hiring child assassins, "furnishing them with weapons" and giving them the addresses of targets, according to police chief Anders Thornberg.
Children have also been contacting the gangs themselves to offer their services as contract killers, he said.
Thornberg blasted the criminals as "ruthless".
Sweden saw several fatal shootings last month alone - four in the city of Uppsala - two of them fatal - and two in Stockholm, where a 13-year-old boy lost his life.
Last year, 90 explosions and 101 attempted explosive attacks were recorded, according to Swedish police, and so far this year, more than 100 explosions have already been recorded.
On September 25, two powerful explosions ripped through residential buildings in Central Sweden, leaving three seriously injured.
Buildings were reduced to rubble, with bricks and window sections left spread outside.
Djane recalled a time when gang members getting hurt or injuring each other was expected - but not to the extent where the consequences of their spats were fatal.
But now he says there is a major difference.
The conflicts have spread beyond gang territories and spilled into the lives of innocent citizens, who have lost loved ones as a result of the uncontrollable violence.
"Now the code of not attacking family and innocent people is long broken," Djane explained.
"Anyone involved directly indirectly, innocent bystanders, innocent lookalikes, and family members.
"It's a war going on. They try to inflict harm in any way possible. If they can't get you they get your brother or friend."
He said his friend's brother was murdered because of a £942 debt.
“It’s a bunch of sociopaths running around on these streets,” he told The Times.
“There’s no room for empathy, otherwise you’re not going to survive."
INNOCENT VICTIMS
In 2020, a 12-year-old girl was killed by a stray bullet aimed at two criminals in a gangland drive-by shooting outside a McDonald's in Botkyrka, located south of Stockholm, in a tragic incident that sent shockwaves through the country.
A young mum and a five-year-old boy were also caught in the crossfire at a playground in Eskilstuna, west of Stockholm, last September.
More recently, two people were killed and two injured when a lone gunman opened fire at a restaurant in a small town in eastern Sweden on September 22, in what cops said appeared to be part of the escalating spiral of violence among criminal gangs.
The violence is now unusual not only in its intensity but also in the extreme youth involved, who are sometimes as young as 13 or 14.
Official estimates suggest half of suspects are under 18 and three-quarters are under 21.
Convicted criminals under the age of 18 are sent to care homes or young offenders institutions, while those under 21 have their age taken into consideration - meaning significantly shorter sentences.
This is dubbed "take a four to become a 100-man" – meaning that by committing a serious offence on behalf of an older gang leader, they gain status and notoriety.
But children and teenagers who are not part of the gangs are also getting caught in the shocking crossfires.
A 13-year-old boy was found dead in the woods near his home in the suburbs of Stockholm on September 21 after being shot in the head in a chilling example of “gross and completely reckless gang violence,” prosecutor Lisa dos Santos said.
Police chief Thornberg added: "Several boys aged between 13 and 15 have been killed, the mother of a criminal was executed at home, and a young man in Uppsala was shot dead on his way to work."
He estimates at least 13,000 people are linked to Sweden’s criminal underworld.
And the individual at the top of the food chain is 37-year-old Rawa Majid - who is better known as the Kurdish Fox.
Majid was the head of Sweden's most violent gang, Foxtrot, and was one of the country's most wanted until he was arrested by Iranian police on October 9.
The notorious gangland leader was being pursued by cops after being accused of carrying out a spate of fatal bombings and shootings in Stockholm.
He had been on the run since 2020, sending police on a wild chase for the infamous criminal through Turkey, where he gained citizenship three years ago.
Majid was captured at the Turkey-Iran border.
It’s a bunch of sociopaths running around on these streets. There’s no room for empathy, otherwise you’re not going to survive
Nikoi Djane
The Swedish PM said he had unconfirmed “intelligence” that Majid had been detained on the long-awaited day of his arrest.
In 2023 alone, Foxtrot has been linked to a slew of deaths, including civilians caught in the crossfires of bloody turf wars usually carried out by boys as young as 13.
Twelve fatalities were reported in September alone.
Diamant Salihu, author of two books on Sweden's organised crime gangs said "Rawa Majid is an entrepreneurial gang leader with ambitions to become a Scandinavian Pablo Escobar".
His gang's terror is set to reign on, even with their boss behind bars.
Foxtrot and the Dalen gang - led by 25-year-old Mikael "The Greek" Tenezos - have been spreading fear across several cities in Sweden as they battle over shares of the country's lucrative drug market.
The feud between the two gang leaders periodically cools off and heats back up again - sparking a seemingly never-ending run of violent crime connected to Foxtrot that involves teenagers.
Last week, a 16-year-old boy was on trial, accused of executing a 15-year-old at point-blank range in a sushi restaurant in the Stockholm suburb of Skogås in January.
The attack was carried out on the orders of an ally of the Kurdish Fox, according to Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.
Also hiding out in Turkey is Majid's former second-in-command, 33-year-old convicted drug dealer Ismail Abdo.
He would often hide under the aliases Dr Phil and The Strawberry to help Majid control their criminal empire - through encrypted apps.
But on September 7, a 60-year-old woman was shot dead in her home in Uppsala.
The woman was Strawberry's mother.
Retribution for her killing came just days later when a home in the same city was targeted by an angry mob of gun-wielding gangsters.
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Following the tragedy, Swedish Journalist Peter Imanuelsen said cops in the country are now warning they will "never be able to stop the gangs".
"In other words, the almost daily bombings and shootings that is happening has now become the new normal, they say it hasn't been this dangerous since 1945," he wrote.
