– We have enough violence here in Iraq, we don’t need to import anything from abroad, people argue, says Norwegian-Iraqi Mohamed Saif Al-Mofty.
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On Monday, the Swedish gang leader “Benzema” drove down one of the busiest streets in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq.
While he was standing in line, a person dressed as a food delivery man got off his motorcycle and ran towards “Benzema’s” car, according to videos of the incident.
The assassin pulled a weapon and killed “Benzema”.
Photos of the windowpane show at least 11 bullet holes. Audio from the video suggests that there may be as many as 15 shots.
Iraq has had enough to contend with in recent decades: the dictator Saddam Hussein, an American invasion, the terrorist regime IS and widespread sectarian violence.
Now the country has a new problem: Swedish gang crime.
According to the report, the killing has caused a great debate in Iraq Swedens radio.
– It has been on all TV channels, says the Norwegian-Iraqi author Mohamed Saif Al-Mofty, who is in Iraq during the day.
One of the questions being asked is whether Iraq has a problem with foreign crime imported from Sweden – a kind of echo of the debate about gang crime and immigration that has been going on in Sweden for many years.
Part of the Foxtrot conflict
Mustafa “Benzema” Aljiburi was part of the violent conflict between different factions of what was the Foxtrot criminal network.
The split network, and the leader “The Kurdish fox”, are at the center of the wave of violence in Sweden.
“Benzema” had been lying low in Baghdad for a long time, after his enemies had promised a bounty on him. In September last year, a bomb went off at his address in Upplands Väsby, according to the report TV 4.
He had actually already been shot and killed in Iraq once before.
Last autumn, torpedoes in Iraq are said to have been commissioned to kill “Benzema”, according to the report The Express. But “Benzema” went along with the torpedoes and staged his own death.
Only when the shooting prize had been paid did he reappear with a gold-coloured Kalashnikov in a live broadcast on Instagram, in front of 19,000 viewers.
LASARUS WITH KALASJNIKOV: Mustafa “Benzema” Aljiburi during the live broadcast where he “resurrected from the dead”. Photo: Facsimile/Instagram
Suspected shooter flew from Sweden
A 19-year-old man has been arrested and is suspected of being the shooter. He flew from Sweden to Iraq the day before the murder.
Two other Swedish citizens are also suspected of complicity in the murder.
According to the Iraqi media, it is the first time that foreign criminal networks have reconciled themselves in the open.
The suspected shooter is Swedish-Albanian, while one of the suspected accomplices has a father from Iraq. “Benzema” was also born in Baghdad, but a Swedish citizen.
In the Iraqi media, it is pointed out, among other things:
- That both the person killed and the suspect are Swedish citizens, with Swedish passports.
- That the suspected shooter did not know the language of the country, Arabic.
FLY FROM SWEDEN: The 19-year-old suspect figures in several criminal cases in Sweden. Here he poses with a weapon in a photo that forms part of a Swedish investigation. Photo: Swedish police
Norwegian-Iraqi Al-Mofty says that the news of a Swedish gang murder in Baghdad “was a shock”.
– Even I was surprised. Think how it was for other Iraqis, he says.
Al-Mofty says that he has followed the ensuing debate on TV, among friends and in social media.
Among the questions that arise is whether Swedish crime could become a growing problem in Iraq.
– We have enough violence here in Iraq, we don’t need to import anything from abroad, people argue, says Al-Mofty.
– Others have pointed out how easy it is for foreigners to enter the country, while it is difficult for Iraqis to get out, he continues.
Triggers immigration debate
The Swedish journalist Shaho Mwany repeated parts of the debate the murder has created on Sveriges Radio on Thursday:
– It is discussed extensively. The Iraqi government and the police are primarily criticized. It is discussed how foreign criminals can enter the country and commit crimes in Iraq, says Mwany.
– At the same time, there are Iraqis who say that there are many thousands of foreigners who are in the country, are behaving and are helping to rebuild the country, he continues.
– It almost sounds like a Swedish debate, only in Iraq, interrupts the presenter.
THE FOX AND BENZEMA: A surveillance photo taken by Swedish police shows “Benzema” (left) and “The Kurdish Fox” (Rawa Majid) outside an Ikea in Uppsala in 2015. Photo: Swedish police
In the comment section of an Iraqi journalist who has published a video of the shooting, one writes:
– Who let them into Iraq?
– Sweden is just gangs, murder and drugs, writes another.
PS! In Norway, too, there have been several offenses in the past year that the police believe have links to Swedish gang crime.
- In March last year, a man was kidnapped in Trondheim.
- Last November, a Swedish man in his 30s was shot outside Mossehallen.
- Drug crime i Tromsø is also connected to Swedish networks.
Published:
Published: 14.01.24 at 22:42
2024-01-14 21:42:12
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