A child gunman in the brutal rise of deadly gangland warfare in Sweden has told The National of his pride when the Kurdish leader of his gang messaged his approval from Iran.
The 16-year-old reveals how the man known as the Kurdish Fox is close to his teenage killers despite years of exile. Sitting in the back of a car on the way to an underground interview point, Alan smiles as he talks nonchalantly about the buzz he got from shooting his rival criminals.
“It’s fun. It's crazy for the first two hours when you have done it, then you start to run because you don’t want the police to see you,” he told The National.
He is one of hundreds of teenagers in Sweden who enlisted in one of the two rival gangs that have gained notoriety for their role in the spate of violent deaths that has blighted the country over the past decade.
Gangsters such as those in the Foxtrot network, run by Rawa Majid, known as the Kurdish Fox, have recruited children to attack rivals - with the knowledge that under Swedish law, anyone under the age of 15 cannot be prosecuted.
Alan revealed how at one point his criminal abilities and ruthlessness came to the attention of Rawa Majid himself. “I heard he liked me,” he told The National with a grin. Along with the praise from the boss, came a Fox Ring - a piece of jewellery with the design of a fox wearing a jacket given to members of the network as a reward for their loyalty. As happy as he was he decided it was time to take a step back. “I declined it. I said ‘Listen, I'm dropping out now’.”
A teenage criminal who was part of the Foxtrot network. The National
Alan, not his real name, like many Swedish teenagers has excellent English learned from the chatroom banter of online gaming platforms.
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