ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The trial of Poya Shafie has begun at the Stockholm District Court in Sweden, in a case prosecutors describe as involving "serious" organized criminal activity linked to the Foxtrot criminal network and its alleged leadership structure.
Swedish police describe Shafie as a close associate of Rawa Majid, known as the “Kurdish Fox,” who is identified as a leading figure in the Foxtrot criminal network. Shafie was arrested in the Kurdistan Region in 2023 and later extradited to Sweden in 2025 following what authorities described as coordinated international cooperation, according to the Swedish public broadcaster SVT.
Senior prosecutor Lukas Tigerstrand, who brought the case before the court, said the charges relate to major violent crimes. He stated that the case involves “very serious crimes.”
"Poya Shafie is now charged with, among other things, incitement to attempted murder, preparation for murder, conspiracy to commit murder, incitement to commit serious public destruction and aggravated weapons offenses," the Swedish outlet said in its report on Wednesday.
According to the indictment, Shafie is alleged to have operated under the alias “Hamado” and led or coordinated a criminal group involved in drug trafficking, attempted murder, violence, and bombings across Stockholm and other parts of Sweden. Prosecutors say the alias appears repeatedly in investigations connected to a wider wave of gang violence in 2023 and 2024.
A key piece of evidence presented in court involves messages from the encrypted Signal messaging app. In one message attributed to “Hamado,” he writes to another individual: “Brother, it must be blown up.” Investigators say the message referred to a planned bombing targeting the home of relatives of a rival gang member.
Shafie and his legal counsel have denied all charges.
Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported that prosecutors believe Shafie played a central coordinating role in several violent incidents, including shootings and planned attacks in Stockholm and Sundsvall. The outlet described him as a suspected “crime coordinator” during the early stages of a major wave of violence in 2023.
Prosecutors also allege that criminal activity linked to “Hamado” included incidents in Stockholm districts such as Enskededalen, Skarpnack, and Vallingby, as well as bombings and shootings in Sundsvall. The trial, which began this week, is expected to last approximately one month.
The case is closely linked to broader investigations into the Foxtrot network, which Swedish authorities and international partners have described as a major transnational criminal organization involved in drug trafficking, arms smuggling, and violent attacks across Europe.
Shafie’s trial comes amid wider operations targeting Foxtrot-linked figures.
Earlier this year, the Kurdistan Region Security Agency (Asayish) said in a statement that it had arrested a senior Foxtrot-linked suspect, describing him as “the leader of a dangerous international gang” following coordinated intelligence work. The agency added that the group had “committed numerous crimes across several countries,” and warned that “the criminal gang intended to use Iraqi territory to carry out its criminal activities.”
The arrest, later confirmed by the Swedish Police Authority as Ali Shehab, was carried out in December 2025 as a result of “long-term and in-depth cooperation between the Swedish Police Authority and Iraqi counterparts.”
Swedish authorities have also emphasized that cooperation with Iraqi security institutions has been central to a series of recent arrests involving Foxtrot-linked suspects, including individuals accused of recruiting minors to carry out violent crimes in Sweden.
Last year, Washington imposed sanctions on Rawa Majid over his reported involvement in arms and drug trafficking, as well as his cooperation with Iran in “attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets.”
“The United States is sanctioning the Foxtrot Network, a transnational criminal organization, and its fugitive leader Rawa Majid,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, accusing Tehran of “leveraging the Foxtrot Network to carry out attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in Europe, including the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, in January 2024.”
Rubio added that Majid cooperated with the Iranian intelligence ministry, which is already under US sanctions.