More and more young people are getting involved in the gang war that has rocked Sweden in recent months, the head of the national police said on Friday after violence that killed three people in 24 hours and shocked the country.
“We have a situation where children are themselves contacting criminal gangs” to commit murders, national police chief Anders Thornberg told a news conference.
Sweden has been plagued for years by violence linked to the fight between gangs for control of the country’s drugs and arms trade. This violence has escalated in recent months due to an internal struggle within one of these gangs. Bloody shootings and explosions are now an almost daily occurrence.
“The criminals are ruthless,” added Thornberg, describing a well-oiled system they use when they want to kill their rivals: calling in outsiders, often minors. “They provide them with the weapons, and give them the address to attack.”
The victims, too, are often young.
According to counts by public broadcaster SVT, 12 people died in shootings and explosions in September, the deadliest month in the last four years.
Wednesday night was particularly deadly with three homicides, including those of an 18-year-old and a 25-year-old woman.
Mats Lindström, a police observer in the Stockholm area who has reviewed numerous messenger services where these murders are ordered, confirms that young people are very much in demand for these “contracts.”
In August 2023, 69 people under the age of 18 were in pre-trial detention in Sweden, compared with 14 in August 2021.
