The last month has been one of the most violent ever in Sweden, according to national police chief Anders Thornberg. The summer and fall have been marked by reports of gang violence, resulting in grim numbers. 290 shootings until the end of September where 42 people were killed. The number of explosions until last week was at least 135.
As late as Tuesday night, seven arson attacks occurred in the Stockholm area in just a couple of hours. Something that the police believe may be connected.
The majority of the last month’s violence can, according to the national police chief, be linked to an internal conflict in the so-called Foxtrot network, where the leader Rawa Majid, who according to unconfirmed information has been arrested in Iran, is being challenged by a former close ally.
– What has accelerated are internal settlements in certain networks, says Anders Thornberg in the TV4 studio.
But he adds that it’s not just about one network, but about several different ones that the police are working with right now.
The recruitment to the gangs
The biggest reason, however, is new recruitment to the criminal gangs, says the national police chief.
– There are three young people a day. There are more than we can accommodate. It is about very young people who are prepared to become shooters, carry out explosives, or run errands for individuals if they are part of these networks, he says.
– As long as we have young people being recruited by the gangs, this problem will continue, he adds.
“Not good enough”
When asked if the problem was that the police were too few or if they carried out poor work, the police chief replies:
– We have not been good enough. It has been extremely difficult to investigate these complex crimes because no one is talking to us, and there is almost no evidence.
Thornberg believes that there are things that the authority could have done differently.
– We would have had to grow much faster, we would have needed more tools. Maybe we should have worked even harder to get the tools we need, he says.
But the authority has had a “breakthrough” since the way of working was changed, according to Thornberg.
– We changed our way of working a year and a half ago where we cooperate with police officers from all over the country.
“The whole society mobilizes”
Despite the dark numbers, national police chief Thornberg feels a little “lightening”, and believes that the police are successful in their work.
Since the turn of the year, he states that the police have prevented around 80 murders and explosions, of which around 30 in the last month.
– Had we not prevented approximately 80 acts of violence, we would have had much higher numbers than last year, he says.
– Now it is starting to mobilize. We see a mobilization among municipalities and civil society. I think people are tired of this, he says.