Rumba gang leader arrested in Türkiye

One of Sweden’s most sought after gang leaders, Ismail Abdo was arrested in Türkiye, said the Swedish prosecutor’s office on Friday.

The Dual Swedish-Turkish National has a large list of accusations related to drugs against him according to the World Police Agency, Interpol.

The 35 -year -old man, nicknamed the strawberry, is a well -known leader in the rumba crime gang in Sweden. He is accused of having orchestrated illegal operations abroad and has been the subject of an interpol Red opinion since last year.

Swedish police did not identify it, but confirmed the arrest of a man “suspected of having engaged in serious drug trafficking and encouraging serious violent” for many years in Sweden.

He was one of the 19 people arrested during the raids in Türkiye, where the police seized more than a ton of drugs, reported the state diffuser TRT. Exactly where the raids took place were not revealed.

Mandates have been issued for 21 other suspects, 14 of which would have been in detention abroad and three in detention of other accusations. Four are still free, added TRT.

The Turkish authorities would have entered assets worth 1.5 billion Turkish LIRA (27.8 million pounds sterling; $ 38 million), including 20 vehicles, bank accounts and 51 real estate properties.

The violence of gangs in Sweden has increased in recent years, in part because the former friend of Abdo, Rawa Majida, is the leader of a rival gang, Foxtrot.

Many people have been killed since the start of their deadly lawn war. He entered a new violent chapter in 2023 when Abdo’s mother was murdered at his home in Uppsala, north of the capital, Stockholm.

Climbing has prompted the government to bring the army to help fight against the sharp increase in gang murders.

In 2024, the Turkish police arrested abdo during a traffic stop, but released him on bond despite the Red Active Interpol notice against him – a decision that aroused criticism from the Swedish authorities who sought to extradite Abdo.

The increase in the violence of gangs which tormented some of the largest cities in Sweden and spreads to suburbs and quieter cities broke its reputation as a safe and peaceful nation.

Lat Year, the Swedish security service, SAPO, accused Iran of recruiting members of Swedish gangs to carry out attacks on Israeli or Jewish interests. In October, a 13 -year -old boy fired gunshots outside the offices of the Israeli technology company Elbit Systems. The embassies of Israel in Sweden and Denmark were also both targeted.

The Central-Street Governance Coalition of Sweden, which has promised to end the gang crime wave when it was elected in 2022, will see the capture of Abdo as a victory. However, the fact that he is also a Turkish citizen could complicate the extradition process.

It is estimated that 14,000 people in Sweden are taken in criminal gangs, according to a police report last year, and 48,000 other people are linked to them.