Swedish gang hires children to kill people

Sweden said gangs contact minors to hire people to kill, and some children even actively contact criminal groups.

"Criminal gangs are ruthless. They contact people, often minors, providing them with weapons and addresses to carry out attacks," Swedish National Police Commissioner Anders Thornberg told reporters on September 29, after three people were murdered in 24 hours.

Sweden in recent years has witnessed bloody conflicts between gangs fighting over weapons and drug trafficking. Apartment buildings and houses across the country are regularly rocked by explosions. Shootings, once confined to disadvantaged areas, have become common in public places in this once peaceful and wealthy country.

"We also encounter situations where children themselves contact criminal gangs to offer to commit murder," Mr. Thornberg said, adding that the victims are often young.

According to statistics from Swedish television station SVT, 12 people were killed in explosions and shootings in September. This is also the month with the most deaths related to gang violence in the past 4 years in Sweden

Senior police official Mats Lindstrom said he had seen many messages from young people contacting gangs for contract killings. Last month, 69 people under the age of 18 were detained in Sweden, compared to 14 in August 2021.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced on September 28 that he would defeat criminal gangs with the help of the army.

"We will hunt down the gangs and defeat them. These are difficult times in Sweden. More and more children and innocent people are affected by this extreme violence," Prime Minister Kristersson said. show on television. "Sweden has never seen anything like this. No other country in Europe has seen anything like this."

According to him, the cause of increased gang violence is "irresponsible immigration policy", "failed integration" and "political naivety", and affirmed that Sweden will implement Take a different approach to solving the problem.

Sweden’s prime minister has summoned the head of the military to discuss how the armed forces can help police deal with an unprecedented crime wave that has shocked the country with almost daily shootings and bombings

STOCKHOLM -- Sweden’s prime minister on Thursday said that he’s summoned the head of the military to discuss how the armed forces can help police deal with an unprecedented crime wave that has shocked the country with almost daily shootings and bombings.

Getting the military involved in crime-fighting would be a highly unusual step for Sweden, underscoring the severity of the gang violence that has claimed a dozen lives across the country this month, including teenagers and innocent bystanders.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said that he would meet with the armed forces' supreme commander and the national police commissioner on Friday to explore “how the armed forces can help police in their work against the criminal gangs.”

It wasn’t immediately clear in what capacity the military would get involved, but previous proposals have focused on soldiers taking over protection duties from police to free up more resources for crime-fighting.

“Sweden has never before seen anything like this,” Kristersson said in a televised speech to the nation. “No other country in Europe is seeing anything like this.”

Sweden has grappled with gang violence for years, but the surge in shootings and bombings in September has been exceptional. Three people were killed overnight in separate attacks with suspected links to criminal gangs, which often recruit teenagers in socially disadvantaged immigrant neighborhoods to carry out hits.

One of the victims was a woman in her 20s who died in an explosion in Uppsala, north of Stockholm. Swedish media said she was likely not the intended target of the attack.