More and more young people are becoming embroiled in the gang war that has rocked Sweden in recent months, the country’s police director said on Friday, after violence that left three people dead in 24 hours shocked the country.
• Also read: Sweden: Three dead in 12 hours in gang war
“We have a situation where children themselves are making contact with criminal gangs” to commit murders, national police chief Anders Thornberg said at a news conference.
Sweden has been plagued by violence for several years related to the fight between gangs for control of the country’s drug and arms trade.
This violence has escalated in recent months due to an internal struggle within one of these gangs. Bloody shootouts and explosions are now almost the order of the day.
“Criminals are ruthless,” Mr. Thornberg added, describing a well-oiled system they resort to when they want to kill their rivals: calling outside people, often minors. “They provide them with weapons and give them the attack address.”
The victims are also often young.
According to public television broadcaster SVT, 12 people died in shootings and explosions in September, the deadliest month in the last four years.
The night from Wednesday to Thursday was particularly deadly with three homicides, including an 18-year-old and a 25-year-old.
“Children should believe in the future, children and young people should not want to become murderers,” emphasized the director of the state police.
Mats Lindström, a police observer in the Stockholm region who has checked numerous intelligence services sponsoring these murders, confirms that young people have high expectations of these “contracts”.
“We see that they write: ‘Are there any contracts? My friend and I are willing to pay 200,000 crowns (25,000 CAD),” he said. They do it “to get status, to become someone, to have the aura of a person.” “Murderers,” as a young man confessed to him during an investigation.
In August 2023, there were 69 people under the age of 18 in custody in Sweden, compared to 14 in the same month of 2021.
On Thursday, the Swedish Prime Minister spoke of strengthening the army to support the police in their work on the ground and to put an end to the escalation of violence.