An Iranian drug kingpin wanted by the FBI who is suspected of masterminding a series of killings in his country has been accused of ravaging Britain with heroin.
Naji Sharifi Zindashti is wanted by the US intelligence service for his alleged ‘involvement in criminal activities’.
Zindashti – also known as ‘Big Guy’ – is also said to be the main drugs supplier of East London gang the Hackney Bombers and has links to London gangster Ibrahim Kadir Aslan, the Mirror said.
The Hackney Bombers, who have been in a long-term turf war with rivals Tottenham Turks, were suspected of being involved in a shooting in east London last year that left a nine-year-old girl fighting for her life.
The young girl was dining with her family in Kingsland High Street, Hackney, last May when a helmeted gunman riding a stolen motorbike fired five shots towards the restaurant she was in.
It’s believed the young girl may have been caught in the crossfire of the two rivals gangs.
Since then, a senior member of the Tottenham Turks, Izzet Eren, was shot and killed sitting outside a cafe in Chisinau, Moldova last summer in what is believed to be a tit-for-tat murder spree.
Rival crime boss Kemal Armagan, of the Hackney Bombers, is suspected of killing Eren and is already wanted for two other murders.
‘Narco terrorist’ Naji Sharifi Zindashti is suspected of supplying east London gang Hackney Bombers
Naji Sharifi Zindashti is also currently wanted by the FBI
Zindashti’s cartel, dubbed ‘Friends’ Club’, has reportedly flooded Europe with heroin from Afghanistan over the past decade
The Mirror reported that Armagan was arrested during a routine stop by police at the Aegean port of Izmir last month.
Meanwhile, Zindashti’s cartel, dubbed ‘Friends’ Club’, has allegedly flooded Europe with heroin from Afghanistan over the past decade, with the help of the Iranian security services.
The Friend’s Club cartel is said to comprise of officials and high-ranking members of the Islamic Republic’s Supreme National Security Council and politicians.
The Iranian kingpin is now on the FBI’s most wanted list over allegations he hired Hells Angels over an encrypted phone network to murder an Iranian defector in the US, with the agency issuing saying that ‘federal arrest warrant was issued for Zindashti’ in December.
An arrest warrant for Zindashti by the FBI says: ‘From at least December of 2020, and continuing until in or around March of 2021, Zindashti’s Iran-based criminal network associates allegedly used encrypted, Internet-based messaging applications to hire criminal elements within North America to murder two individuals who fled Iran.
‘Zindashti’s criminal network also allegedly provided resources to facilitate the attempted transnational killing of a person within the United States.
Friend’s Club cartel is said to comprise of officials and high-ranking members of the Islamic Republic’s Supreme National Security Council and politicians
‘On December 13, 2023, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Zindashti in the United States District Court, District of Minnesota, after he was charged with Conspiracy To Use Interstate Commerce Facilities in the Commission of Murder-For-Hire.’
The FBI also noted that Zindashti has ties to and may visit Iran, Turkey and Kurdistan, and has urged anyone who may have any information concerning the drug lord to contact the agency or the police.
