The series of explosions in Sweden continues. Gothenburg police last reported two explosions at around 1 a.m. Thursday, and an hour later an explosion was reported in the Stockholm suburb of Norsborg and the city of Nyköping, about 100 kilometers south of the capital. According to police, no one was injured.
“Both crime scenes have been cordoned off and technical investigations are ongoing,” Gothenburg police said. Bomb disposal experts are on duty. According to authorities, all four explosions occurred in residential areas. Police were unable to quantify the damage on Thursday.
APA/AFP/Tt News Agency/Adam Ihse An entrance door destroyed after an explosion in Gothenburg
There have been several incidents in Sweden in recent days that have been linked to gang violence. A young man was shot dead in his car in Helsingborg, and a boy in his late teens was later arrested on suspicion of murder. Previously, two 14-year-old boys were found dead in a wooded area after allegedly getting into trouble with criminal networks.
Record number of teenagers involved in crimes
Sweden has been battling serious gang crime for several years, which has repeatedly manifested itself in intentional shootings and explosions. Last year, Swedish police counted 391 shootings in the country, 62 of which were fatal. There have been more than 100 explosions in Sweden this year alone. According to the police, the bombs and hand grenades are primarily intended to intimidate.
Teenagers and young men are often among the victims and perpetrators. The number of young people aged 15 to 17 prosecuted for serious crimes such as murder and attempted murder has reached its highest level since 2019, the Guardian reports. In the first six months of this year there were 42 people in this age group suspected of attempted murder. In 2022 there were still 38.
Relatively easy access to firearms
One problem is the relatively easy access to firearms, which police say come mainly from the Balkans. As younger children, as young as 10, are increasingly recruited into drug trafficking, the number of those using weapons in conflicts with deadly consequences is also increasing. Police fear it is only a matter of time before weapons from Ukraine reach Sweden.
In the small Swedish town of Örebro, for example, it is so easy to obtain firearms that most young people with whom social services work on youth crime can acquire a gun in a day. “The contacts are there if you want them. They could get drugs even faster,” Sabrina Farlblad, from the city’s social services office, told the Guardian.
APA/AFP/Jonathan Nackstrand Photos of firearms seized at a police station in Rinkeby
Stricter measures required for drug buyers
The Guardian quotes lawyer and youth crime expert Evin Cetin, who stated that the latest shootings in front of schools and playgrounds in Örebro were mainly to do with drugs and power struggles. The government must ask itself: “Can we combat gang crime that recruits child soldiers without combating the multibillion-dollar drug business?”
Unlike most of Europe, where drug distribution is mainly controlled by older men, in Sweden 16 and 17 year olds now buy half a kilo of cocaine on loan and have younger children sell it. “This is why these shootings happen,” she said.
Instead of focusing on punishing children who sell drugs, more attention should be paid to those who buy them from young people, Cetin said. Former Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson also recently called for tougher sanctions on those who buy drugs from children.
Expert: Early warnings ignored
Cetin blames recent governments and police for failing to heed a 2010 warning from then-youth crime expert Carin Götblad. The current police chief warned at that time that 5,000 children and young people were on their way to serious crime. These children are now leading figures in gang crime, says Cetin.
Every time a child or young person abandons crime through death or prison time, another is recruited. “And that’s the big problem. We can arrest as many as we can, but new children continue to arrive.” The increase in social and economic inequality is a motivating factor for children to start trafficking drugs. This is particularly true for boys who fail in school and in areas with high unemployment.
Swedish government announces measures
The Swedish government recently announced measures to facilitate the exchange of information between schools, social services and the police. The aim is to identify children at risk at an early stage. Projects such as self-help groups and group violence interventions are also designed to help identify people involved in or associated with violent crimes.
A government report released in August, with input from Police Commissioner Götblad as an expert, suggests that young people aged 15 to 17 who commit the most serious crimes should be arrested. “We need many more corrective tools because today we have a naive society,” said Götblad. “The society for which our laws and authorities were made no longer exists.”