Swedish rapper Yasin Byn has been arrested in connection to the murder of a former friend, according to local reports.

Yasin Byn, whose real name is Yasin Abdullahi, was taken into police custody on 30 December, after the body of a 20-year-old man was found with fatal gunshot wounds to the head in Stockholm.

Abdullahi has over 640,000 monthly listeners of Spotify and successfully topped Swedish charts on the music streaming platform with his hit song ‘XO’.

Local newspaper Expressen reported he was one of seven young men arrested on suspicion of the victim’s murder.

The victim, who was found in a car wearing a bulletproof vest, is said to have been a former close friend of Abdullahi.

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Two men were released early, and two more walked free after a custody hearing on Friday. The others, including Abdullahi, remain in custody.

All suspects and the victim were allegedly linked to a criminal gang called the Shottaz network, which the 21-year-old rapper is allegedly a core member of.

Leiff GW Persson, a Swedish criminologist and novelist, told Expressen: “It happens all the time. Not only among them, but also among older organised criminal groups.

“Like motorcycle gangs, they happen to kill each other, even though they belong to the same gang. There is almost no solution to these cases.”

The gang was believed to be responsible for the deaths of two people near Copenhagen in July last year.

According to The Local, the Shottaz gang is involved in an ongoing conflict with another organised crime gang in Stockholm, called Dödspatrullen.

Abdullahi was charged for drug offences multiple times since 2015.

In 2018, he was sentenced to prison for two years and three months after he was caught by police with his former friend and victim in the current murder case carrying a submachine gun and a semi-automatic pistol.