Iraqi intelligence announced on Tuesday evening that the Foxtrot network has been dismantled through arrests in Kurdistan. According to Swedish police, it concerns Ali Shehab, one of the network's top leaders, who was arrested already on Monday. The arrest followed months of intelligence work in collaboration between Kurdish and Iraqi authorities.
On Tuesday evening, Iraq's intelligence service issued a statement about an operation in Sulaymaniyya in Kurdistan, where several high-ranking members of the Foxtrot network were arrested simultaneously in multiple provinces. According to the statement, the network attempted to use Iraqi territory as a base for criminal operations and is a dangerous international mafia involved in complex crimes worldwide. 'The network attempted to use Iraqi territory as a base for its criminal operations,' the statement said.
Swedish police later confirmed that the arrest concerns Ali Shehab, 21, one of leader Rawa Majid's closest associates, suspected of several murder commissions over the past year. The arrest was announced already on Monday after months of continuous surveillance and collaboration between Kurdish security forces and Iraqi intelligence. 'Intelligence assessments confirmed that the group planned to use Iraqi territory as a hub to coordinate and expand its criminal activities,' the Kurdish intelligence service stated.
Initially, there was uncertainty whether the Iraqi statement referred to Shehab or additional leaders. Caroline Wiklund from the police's national media center initially said: 'We are investigating the information.' She later clarified that it concerns the same person. According to police, no additional leaders have been arrested, despite Iraqi claims that the network has been dismantled. 'It concerns the same information we communicated yesterday,' Wiklund said.
