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UK cops have joined the probe into missing Brits feared dead after two bodies were found in a burnt out car – as a football club pays tribute to one.
Brits Juan Cifuentes, 33, and Farooq Abdulrazak, 27, went missing while on a business trip to Denmark and Sweden this week.
Brits Juan Cifuentes (right) and Farooq Abdulrazak (left) are feared dead after they went missing on a business trip
Welwyn Garden City FC said Cifuentes (left) was a ‘great person’
Mikael Nilsson
Mikael Nilsson
On Sunday two bodies were found shot dead in a burnt out car on an industrial estate in the Swedish city of Malmö.
Cops are working on the theory they are the bodies of children’s football coach Cifuentes and his friend Abdulrazak.
Welwyn Garden City FC paid tribute to Cifuentes, who used to play for the team, calling him a “great person”.
Posting on X, formerly Twitter, a club spokesperson said: “Everyone at the club is saddened and shocked by the news yesterday of the passing of Juan Cifuentes.
“Juan was part of our double-winning squad in 2014-15. A very good player and great person.
“We send our condolences to all his family, friends and ex-teammates. RIP Juan.”
A family source told The Sun: “They are both nice, normal guys, everyone is shocked and waiting on news from Sweden.”
They said that missing Cifuentes is a family man who coaches kids’ football in north London.
On Thursday, a spokeswoman for the Met Police confirmed they had joined the investigation.
A spokeswoman said: “We continue to liaise with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to establish if the deaths of two men in Malmo, Sweden, are related to two men reported missing in north London on Monday July 15.”
Part of that investigation will be scouring CCTV, with newly-surfaced footage of the pair inside the Copenhagen airport car rental office.
Cops said a black Toyota Rav 4 was then filmed driving across the Oresund Bridge to Sweden the day they died with three people inside, Sydsvenskan reports.
Investigators are also looking into the third man, who was in close contact with the Brit who rented the car, Aftonbladet reports.
Laura Cifuentes, sister of missing Juan, told The Sun: “There’s no confirmation. There’s no confirmation that they’ve been shot. The bodies are still being identified.
“They were meant to return home and it was meant to be a short business trip.”
Newly-surfaced CCTV shows the two Brit men renting a car in Copenhagen before they vanished
Now the Met is investigating whether the deaths are related to missing LondonersHeartbreakingly, Cifuentes admitted that there’s “probably [a] 99% chance” that the bodies are those of her brother and his friend, but said the two families will wait for official confirmation from the Swedish police.
Both victims were killed before the car was set alight and dumped in the Fosie industrial estate, according to Swedish media.
Swedish cops say they “have an idea of who they are”, but haven’t been able to publicly identify either of the victims.
The men reportedly ran a travel company, Empire Holidays.
A post on a Facebook page for Empire Holidays on Thursday read: “It is very difficult to say this, but it is with a heavy heart that we inform you that the owner of Empire Holidays (Farooq) has sadly passed away.”
Everyone at the club is saddened and shocked by the news yesterday of the passing of Juan Cifuentes
Welwyn Garden City FCIt added: “Please keep Farooq & Juan in your duas and may they reach the highest level of Jannah. Ameen.”
The post assured customers that any holidays booked through the company were still active and would go ahead.
Swedish police said the victims were shot on Sunday, with the Toyota Rav4 set on fire in an industrial area of the city in southern Sweden.
According to Swedish national newspaper Aftonbladet, the car had been rented at Copenhagen airport, in Denmark, by a British citizen before the driver and the passenger travelled across the border into Sweden and to Malmo.
A Swedish police spokesman said: “The two people who were found dead in a burned out car on Sunday afternoon have not yet been identified.
“The bodies are being examined by forensic medicine. The incident is currently being investigated as a murder.
“Several witnesses have been interviewed and the police are interested in further observations and tips. If you have information that could be of interest to the police, call +46 77-114 14 00.”
Interpol is also reportedly involved in the ongoing probe.
Inside Malmo's crime-riddled underworld
PARTS of Sweden have become riddled with gang activity, plagued by executions, bomb attacks and child soldiers rampaging the streets.
Innocent bystanders have been gunned down in recent years as a country that was once deemed peaceful and safe becomes a terrifying gangster paradise.
Sweden has grappled with gang violence for decades but its latest latest surge has been exceptional – fuelled by notorious druglords dubbed Kurdish Fox and The Greek.
Police have been placed on standby ready to prevent brutal murders and explosions – and the country’s leaders have even geared up to deploy the military.
Human lives and family homes have fallen victim to the ongoing gang warfare, as the country chillingly reaches the highest level of children prosecuted for murder since 2019.
Much of the violence is concentrated in large cities like Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö and Uppsala.
Malmö has even been dubbed one of the worst cities in Northern Europe for gang crime in a tourism review.
Manne Gerell, Swedish criminologist and senior lecturer at Malmö university, previously told the Financial Times that shootings and bombings in the city are rife.
He said: “It almost appears random — it can happen to anybody, anywhere. It makes it more similar to terrorism.”
One gang member told public broadcaster SVT “If my family is in danger, everyone’s family is in danger,” as cops face a least of at least 150 homes that could be the target of shootings or bombings.
Mikael Nilsson
English (US)