Swedish police chief: 'Kids are contacting gangs to become killers'
More and more children are contacting criminal gangs in Sweden to offer their services as contract killers, the country's police chief said on Friday, after three people were murdered in 24 hours.
Sweden has in recent years been in the grip of a bloody conflict between gangs fighting over arms and drug trafficking. That has escalated with internal fighting within a leading gang.
Apartment buildings and homes across the country are frequently rocked by explosions. Shootings, once limited to disadvantaged areas, have become regular occurrences in public places in the usually tranquil, wealthy country.
"We have a situation where children are contacting criminal gangs to become killers," police chief Anders Thornberg told journalists.
"The criminals are ruthless," Thornberg said, adding that the gangs also contacted people, often minors, and "furnished them with weapons and gave them the address in which to stage the attack".
Even the victims were often young.
This month, 12 people were killed in shootings and explosions, the deadliest month in the past four years in Sweden.
READ ALSO:
- Who's who in Sweden's gang conflict?
- Timeline: Sweden's deadliest month for shootings in four years
- How could Sweden put an end to its deadly wave of gang crime?
Senior police official Mats Lindström said he had seen many messages from young people contacting gangs for contract killings.
In August 2023, there were 69 people aged under 18 in custody in Sweden, against 14 in the same month two years earlier.
On Thursday evening, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson vowed to defeat criminal gangs with the help of the military.
"We are going to hunt down the gangs. We are going to defeat the gangs," Kristersson said in a televised address to the nation.
"An increasing number of children and completely innocent people are affected by this extreme violence," Kristersson said.
"Sweden has never seen anything like this. No other country in Europe is seeing anything like this."
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Sweden has in recent years been in the grip of a bloody conflict between gangs fighting over arms and drug trafficking. That has escalated with internal fighting within a leading gang.
Apartment buildings and homes across the country are frequently rocked by explosions. Shootings, once limited to disadvantaged areas, have become regular occurrences in public places in the usually tranquil, wealthy country.
"We have a situation where children are contacting criminal gangs to become killers," police chief Anders Thornberg told journalists.
"The criminals are ruthless," Thornberg said, adding that the gangs also contacted people, often minors, and "furnished them with weapons and gave them the address in which to stage the attack".
Even the victims were often young.
This month, 12 people were killed in shootings and explosions, the deadliest month in the past four years in Sweden.
READ ALSO:
- Who's who in Sweden's gang conflict?
- Timeline: Sweden's deadliest month for shootings in four years
- How could Sweden put an end to its deadly wave of gang crime?
Senior police official Mats Lindström said he had seen many messages from young people contacting gangs for contract killings.
In August 2023, there were 69 people aged under 18 in custody in Sweden, against 14 in the same month two years earlier.
On Thursday evening, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson vowed to defeat criminal gangs with the help of the military.
"We are going to hunt down the gangs. We are going to defeat the gangs," Kristersson said in a televised address to the nation.
"An increasing number of children and completely innocent people are affected by this extreme violence," Kristersson said.
"Sweden has never seen anything like this. No other country in Europe is seeing anything like this."
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