Shafaq News– Baghdad/ Al-Sulaymaniyah
Iraq’s National Intelligence Service said on Tuesday that it had arrested senior figures from the Foxtrot network, an international organized crime group, following coordinated security operations carried out across several Iraqi provinces.
According to a statement, the arrests were based on precise intelligence information and involved domestic and cross-border tracking operations and in coordination with the National Center for International Judicial Cooperation and security authorities in Al-Sulaymaniyah province in the Kurdistan Region.
The detainees are described as criminal leaders wanted under local and international arrest warrants for their alleged involvement in complex crimes across multiple countries.
The statement said the arrests were carried out simultaneously in several provinces, after the network attempted to “exploit Iraqi territory as a base for its criminal activities.”
Iraqi authorities did not disclose the number of suspects detained or the specific charges, citing ongoing investigations and judicial procedures.
In March 2025, the United States imposed sanctions on the Foxtrot Network, a Sweden-based transnational criminal organization, and its fugitive leader, Rawa Majid, citing the group’s role in large-scale drug trafficking, arms smuggling, and organized violence across Northern Europe.
According to US authorities, the Foxtrot Network has been linked to a surge in shootings, contract killings, and violent assaults in several European countries, making it one of the region’s most prominent organized crime groups.
Washington also accused Iran of exploiting the network for external operations, alleging that the Iranian government used Foxtrot operatives to carry out attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in Europe. These allegations include an attack targeting the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm in January 2024.
US officials said Majid had cooperated with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, which is already under multiple US sanctions regimes. Swedish authorities, meanwhile, have issued numerous charges against Majid related to narcotics trafficking and illegal firearms.