A major investigation into weapons allegedly smuggled from Bosnia and Herzegovina into criminal networks in the European Union has uncovered suspected links to Swedish organized crime groups and, potentially, Iranian operations in Europe.
The investigation has focused on weapons allegedly obtained through irregularly issued firearms permits in the Sarajevo area and subsequently diverted into illegal markets. According to information cited by Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL), some of the weapons may have reached criminal networks in Sweden, including the Foxtrot network associated with Rawa Majid, known as the “Kurdish Fox.”
Police official dies after shooting himself during operation
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), supported by Europol, carried out searches at several locations on September 23 under orders issued by the country’s Prosecutor’s Office and Court.
During the operation, a police official from the Sarajevo Canton Interior Ministry, working in the Ilijaš Police Directorate, was detained.
According to the information cited by RFE/RL, the official, who was responsible for issuing firearms permits, managed to obtain a handgun inside the police premises while under SIPA supervision and shot himself. He died in hospital the following day.
SIPA has not publicly provided a detailed account of the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The official is suspected of having abused firearms permits issued to residents of Ilijaš and surrounding areas. Investigators reportedly suspect that the permits were subsequently used to purchase pistols from at least two companies in Bratunac and Doboj, after which the weapons allegedly entered the illegal market.
RFE/RL reported that, according to unofficial information that has not been publicly confirmed by the authorities involved, several dozen weapons may have been purchased during 2024 and 2025.
Suspected links to criminal networks in the EU
One of the alleged trafficking routes reportedly led to a group associated with Dino Muzaferović, a Bosnia and Herzegovina national who is currently in custody in Slovenia.
Europol and Slovenian investigators have previously linked Muzaferović to international investigations into drug and arms trafficking and criminal networks operating between the Western Balkans and the European Union.
In February 2025, authorities from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Sweden, supported by Europol, conducted an international operation targeting suspected trafficking in drugs, weapons and explosives and the supply of criminal networks in the EU.
The latest investigation is examining whether weapons obtained through the alleged abuse of firearms permits in Bosnia were subsequently transferred through similar networks.
Foxtrot and alleged Iranian connections
The investigation has also raised questions about possible links to Foxtrot, the Swedish criminal network associated with Rawa Majid.
Foxtrot has been the subject of numerous Swedish and international investigations into drug and weapons trafficking and violent crime.
U.S. and British authorities have also sanctioned Majid and the Foxtrot network, alleging that the organization has been used in operations linked to Iran.
In March 2025, the U.S. Treasury Department said Foxtrot had organized an attack against the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm in January 2024 “on behalf of the Government of Iran.” The department also said Majid had worked with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).
However, there is currently no official confirmation that the weapons at the center of the Bosnian investigation were used in Foxtrot operations connected to Iran.
Sources cited by RFE/RL have reportedly told the broadcaster that weapons illegally obtained from Bosnia were used in at least five armed incidents involving the group. Those claims have not been publicly confirmed by the authorities conducting the Bosnian investigation.
Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported in January 2025, citing police sources, that one of Majid’s assets was his network of contacts involved in smuggling weapons from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Sweden.
How Foxtrot operates
Foxtrot developed as a criminal network involved primarily in drug and weapons trafficking and the commissioning of violent attacks.
The U.S. Treasury describes it as an international criminal organization based largely in Sweden and involved in drug and arms trafficking, shootings, contract killings and other forms of violence. U.S. authorities have also said the network has used minors to carry out attacks.
Swedish public broadcaster SVT has reported that Majid was born in Iran into a Kurdish family originating from Iraq and grew up in Uppsala, Sweden, where he later established the Foxtrot network.
After Swedish authorities launched legal proceedings against him and issued an international arrest warrant, Majid moved to Turkey. Sweden was unable to secure his extradition, as he held Turkish citizenship.
In September 2023, Majid reportedly left Turkey for Iran after Turkish authorities began proceedings that could have resulted in the withdrawal of his passport.
SVT has also reported claims attributed to Israel’s Mossad that Majid faced a choice in Iran between imprisonment and cooperation with Iranian authorities. Those claims remain attributed to the Israeli intelligence service and have not been independently established.
According to Swedish reporting, Majid continued directing criminal activities remotely after leaving Sweden, while individuals within the network and associated criminal circles carried out operations on the ground.
The case of researcher Arvin Khoshnood
The alleged use of criminal networks for operations connected to Iran has also been examined in Sweden in relation to threats against Iranian dissidents.
One such case involves Swedish researcher Arvin Khoshnood, an Iranian-born critic of the Iranian regime who became the target of an attempted killing in September 2025.
Khoshnood told RFE/RL that a man had gone to his home but failed to enter. Police later arrested the same individual in another Swedish city after he had shot another person.
According to Khoshnood, investigators found his photograph, name, address and information about his vehicle on the suspect’s phone, along with messages that helped police identify five additional individuals.
Khoshnood said the six suspects had different roles and were communicating through Signal with a person using the name “Tartarus,” who allegedly offered them 300,000 Swedish kronor, approximately €30,000, to kill him.
All six were later convicted, with four convicted of preparing the murder. They were minors at the time of the events.
SVT subsequently reported that Swedish police linked the identity of “Tartarus” to Dante Peykar, who was reportedly in Iran. Swedish reporting has also linked Peykar to Iranian operations in Sweden.
Khoshnood has stressed, however, that the attempted killing against him was not ordered by Foxtrot. According to his account, some of the individuals involved simultaneously worked for different criminal networks and accepted assignments in exchange for payment.
From organized crime to politically linked violence
Sweden’s Security Service, Säpo, publicly confirmed in 2024 that Iran was using criminal networks in Sweden to carry out acts of violence in Sweden and other countries.
At the time, Säpo did not identify specific criminal organizations but confirmed links between Iranian activities and Swedish criminal circles.
In June 2025, SVT reported that Foxtrot had been linked to seven attacks against Israeli targets. Sources from criminal circles cited by the broadcaster alleged that Iran had pressured criminal figures to carry out attacks.
The U.S. Treasury has described such arrangements as a mechanism through which Iran can use international criminal organizations as intermediaries while maintaining distance from direct involvement.
Recruitment of minors and a case in the Netherlands
The Khoshnood case has also highlighted the reported recruitment of very young people to carry out violent assignments.
Swedish reporting has indicated that individuals recruited through criminal networks can occupy different levels of a chain, meaning that those carrying out an attack may not know the identity of the ultimate organizer or the political motivation behind an operation.
A case in the Dutch city of Schoonhoven in March 2026 raised similar questions.
A 36-year-old Iranian-born Dutch police employee and critic of the Iranian regime was seriously wounded in a shooting. Authorities initially examined whether the attack could have had a political motive.
The suspect, identified as Hasan B., was arrested in Germany and later extradited to the Netherlands. He admitted carrying out the shooting but, according to information provided by Dutch prosecutors to RFE/RL, said he had been recruited for the attack without knowing the identity of the target or the reason for it.
Investigators are also examining the role of an alleged intermediary who is suspected of connecting the person who ordered the attack with the shooter. Dutch prosecutors have said that the motive has not yet been established.
The Bosnian investigation is now examining whether weapons originating from the country were supplied through criminal networks that operate across European borders. Any direct connection between the seized or traced weapons and Iranian-directed operations remains subject to investigation.
