The information that Abdo has been arrested is indirectly confirmed by the Swedish police.
The police write in a press release that a "Swedish instigator" has been arrested in Turkey. The arrested person is suspected by the police of serious narcotics crimes and instigation of serious violent crimes in Sweden.
The arrest is the result of a long and targeted effort in cooperation between Turkish and Swedish police, says Mats Berggren, acting deputy head of Noa.
We do not want to confirm the person himself. The Turkish authorities have not themselves gone out with who it is, but it is Turkish media reports. And they still have ongoing operational measures, so we feel that we want to wait until the Turkish police communicate themselves.
Good cooperation
Swedish police have good, close international cooperation with many countries, and Turkey is one of them, he explains.
We see that we get home and we arrest more and more abroad who affect the Swedish problem picture. We have deprived of liberty many more this year than we did last year. It is the international work that we put a lot of effort into that is starting to yield results.
Abdo is said to be one of 19 suspects arrested in the major operation carried out by security forces in several cities in Turkey.
According to the Prosecution Authority, he will not be extradited to Sweden because he is a Turkish citizen, the authority writes in a press release.
How the arrest can affect gang crime in Sweden, Mats Berggren cannot comment on.
It is difficult to say so early on, but we will evaluate it continuously.
Several crimes in Sweden
Ismail Abdo is suspected of several crimes in Sweden, and since the Foxtrot conflict escalated in 2023, Ismail Abdo has been one of the most prioritized persons to arrest for the Swedish police.
As recently as the spring of 2024, Abdo was arrested in connection with a traffic check in Turkey. That time, he was released on bail - despite being internationally wanted by Sweden.
In the spring of this year, he was arrested in absentia by a Swedish court for the second time, this time for having organized the reception and transport of 1.3 tons of cocaine seized by the Customs Authority in the spring of 2024 in Nynäshamn.
Abdo is wanted in Sweden for several narcotics crimes and for instigation to attempted murder.
Corrected: In an earlier version, one of the crime classifications was incorrect.
"The Strawberry" Ismael Abdo was previously closely allied with the Foxtrot network and its leader Rawa Majid from Uppsala. They engaged in extensive narcotics smuggling to Sweden for several years.
Between 2021 and 2023, the network was involved in at least four separate conflicts with other gangs, including the Dalen network in southern Stockholm.
In the summer of 2023, an internal split occurred within the network, resulting in a bloody conflict between individuals in Foxtrot. Among other things, Ismail Abdo's mother was murdered in her home outside Uppsala.
Ismail Abdo later became a leader in a new, rival network that goes by the name Rumba at the police.
Another of the leading figures in the conflict was shot dead in Iraq's capital Baghdad in early 2024.
Source: The police's national operational department (Noa), TT
