After several quiet months, gang violence flared up again in March 2026. At the end of the month, three boys were shot dead in as many days, in Malmö and in Vårby and Tyresö south of Stockholm.
The violence was ruthless. In several cases, the shootings took place in a public place in front of a large number of witnesses. In Tyresö, the victim was killed with a shot to the head when he was about to get on the bus after school.
The murders soon turned out to have several common denominators. Everyone is connected to the Foxtrot network and time and time again the same alias appears in the investigations: "Jihadi John".
The account gave the shooters instructions and arranged for weapons and printer apartments to hide in, according to police. After the murder in Vårby, the user got a young girl to travel to Västerås to collect the reward: SEK 53,000.
But according to the police, the three murders were only part of the crime spree that "Jihadi John" ordered. The user is also suspected of having pressured an 11-year-old boy to carry out a shooting in the Stockholm area.
On March 27, the police overheard two girls talking about the boy having difficulty handling the weapon because he was so young. Soon the authority received information that the 11-year-old had repented and jumped out of a taxi on the way to the murder mission. The boy told a patrol that he had hidden the weapon in a thicket.
The police have a clear picture of who is hiding behind "Jihadi John". It is about a 20-year-old man who grew up in southern Stockholm.
Since May, the man has been detained in his absence for 15 different crimes. He is described as a "super instigator" who coordinates gang violence from abroad.
- He is one of our worst. He is suspected of having been active in many cases, says a police source to DN.
In court documents, it appears that the 20-year-old had a difficult upbringing, characterized by mental abuse and deficiencies in care. He therefore spent time in several different family homes.
DN has been in contact with a person with whom the boy was placed. The person describes an insecure and shy boy. Now they haven't met in years.
How could he end up in this situation?
- He is looking for contact, quite simply. He was probably looking in the wrong place.
Already in 2022, the police began to warn that the 20-year-old was at risk of being recruited into gang crime. The following year, crime escalated and he was convicted twice in a short time, including for theft, assault and robbery.
The penalty value was assessed to be five months in prison, but the penalty was youth care. Just four months later, he departed from the residence. In June 2024, he notified his home municipality that he was abroad. He wrote that he would be away for at least a year, according to documents obtained by DN.
"We suspect that he is in Tunisia as he had gone there during his previous placement," writes an administrator at the municipality in a court document.
But at the end of the summer, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs contacted the 20-year-old's mother. The son was detained in an institution in Turkey, the message read.
There he was detained at least until the spring of 2025. The Swedish court wanted him to be interrogated via video link from Turkey, which, however, refused the request.
DN has not been able to confirm why the 20-year-old was arrested in the country. Not even when he was released. What is clear, however, is that today he is at large.
- We have reason to believe that he has been in Turkey. But we don't know where he is now, says prosecutor Sara Malmhester, who investigated the Tyresö word.
DN has sought the 20-year-old's lawyer, who does not want to comment on how the man reacts to the suspicions.
