Listen to the article
Britain has sanctioned a Swedish gangster accused of working for Iran to carry out attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe.
Rawa Majid, 39, known as the “Kurdish Fox”, has been linked to an attack on the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, in January 2024. The attack was allegedly carried out on behalf of Iran using his “Foxtrot Network” of criminals.
The sanctions were imposed just days before British police and members of the special forces arrested seven Iranian nationals allegedly involved in a suspected terrorist plot.
The UK’s Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, said the sanctions imposed on Majid and the Foxtrot Network formed part of the government’s “ongoing response to Iranian hostilities in Europe”.
“The UK has announced sanctions against the notorious criminal Foxtrot Network and its leadership,” he said.
“The Iranian regime uses criminal gangs across the world to threaten people. The UK has targeted this criminal network and its leader, Rawa Majid, due to their involvement in violence against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe on behalf of the Iranian regime. The UK will not tolerate these threats.”
Mr Lammy did not specify whether the Foxtrot Network was linked to any attacks on individuals in the UK.
Scotland Yard detectives have been granted a warrant to continue questioning the Iranians arrested on Saturday. The suspects, aged 29, 29, 40, and 46, were alleged to have been just hours away from launching an attack. They were arrested “on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act” and remain in custody. A fifth man was detained under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act.
Meanwhile, Mr Lammy said Iran would be placed on the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS).
The move requires Iran to register all activities intended to exert political influence in the UK, subjecting Tehran to an elevated level of scrutiny in light of what the government describes as increasingly aggressive behaviour.
“To date, the UK has sanctioned more than 450 Iranian individuals and entities, in response to the regime’s human rights violations, nuclear weapons programme, and malign influence internationally,” said Mr Lammy.
“The UK government will continue to hold the Iranian regime, and criminals acting on its behalf, to account.”
Under the sanctions, any British citizen or business is banned from dealing with funds or economic resources owned, held, or controlled by Majid and the Foxtrot Network. They are also prohibited from holding directorships in UK companies. Majid is additionally banned from travelling to the UK.
The UK’s decision follows similar sanctions imposed by the United States, which described the Foxtrot Network as “one of the most notorious criminal gangs based in Sweden”, known for conducting shootings, contract killings, assaults, and other forms of violence.
Foxtrot is “one of the most prominent drug-trafficking organisations in the region, with a presence in other European countries”, the US Treasury said when it announced the sanctions.
Majid is wanted in Sweden for drug offences and other crimes. A Swedish prosecutor recently told The National that Majid had fled Turkey, thwarting efforts to have him extradited. He is also the subject of an Interpol Red Notice, which states that he is wanted on charges of murder, attempted murder, and drug offences.
Also used by Iran to target its opponents is Majid’s former criminal associate, Ismail Abdo, who leads the rival “Rumba” organisation. Both gangs are wanted by Swedish authorities in connection with suspected killings amid a brutal turf war over the country’s illegal drugs market.
The recruitment of criminal gangs by Iran was first revealed by Sweden’s SÄPO counter-intelligence service in May 2024.
Around the same time, Israel’s Mossad agency named Majid and Abdo, along with their criminal networks, as groups used by Tehran. Iran has sought to assassinate dissidents through other criminal networks, including that of Iranian drug trafficker Naji Ibrahim Sharifi-Zindashti, who was sanctioned by the US in January 2024.
Majid was born in Iran but may also be an Iraqi citizen, according to the US Treasury. His family settled in the city of Uppsala in Sweden, where he became involved in crime.
He is widely seen as playing a key role in the escalation of gang violence in Sweden, which has shattered its reputation as a peaceful nation. The violence has included a spate of bomb attacks, often targeting the families of rival criminals.
Children are frequently recruited by criminal groups to carry out attacks, as under Swedish law, no one can be convicted until the age of 15, and lighter sentences are typically imposed on under-18s.
