The police in Sweden and Denmark are worried about the increasing share of minors as perpetrators of serious crimes, such as murders and explosions.
The authorities have noticed that organized crime is increasingly using young Swedish people as perpetrators of crimes, who are recruited through social media. The Swedish media has reported on social media’s “job ads”, which are looking for, for example, hitmen and perpetrators of explosive attacks.
Some of the gigs offered to Swedes are in Sweden, some in Denmark. Perpetrators of crimes are searched for, among other things, with such messages in the messaging application Telegram, which guarantees anonymity:
Hurry! Blasting in Stockholm 100 tons.
A murderer is needed in Denmark, half a million available.
“Job announcements” in Telegram
Swedish police have noticed how criminals actively look for even very young teenagers to commit heinous crimes.
While criminals were previously searched for in encrypted messaging apps or on the dark web, recruitment is now done openly on, for example, Telegram.
Throw a grenade home in Denmark, 70 thousand kroner. We are responsible for all expenses, housing, travel tickets and the like.
The “job advertisement” found by DN on Facebook
The criminal recruitment message may state the working hours as in a regular job advertisement.
Dagens Nyheter newspaper (DN) tells about a social media ad looking for an amphetamine courier to the Stockholm area. Working hours are from noon to midnight and the recruit must have a driver’s license and own car. The daily wage is 3,000–4,000 kroner, or about 260–350 euros.
One notice lists the salary amounts. Shooting in Sweden 100,000 kroner, or more than 8,700 euros. For a blast in Stockholm or Denmark, you get at most half of this.
For murder in Denmark, 300,000–500,000 kroner is promised, or about 29,000–48,500 euros.
Right now. Blasting in Stockholm 30-50 tons.
Always available. Murder in Denmark 300-500 tons.
Examples of announcements picked up by DN
Especially in demand are young people with a clean criminal record and especially women, because they arouse less suspicion than men.
Young people, even children, may themselves ask criminals for gigs on social media.
A 17-year-old boy in Halmstad is looking for work [huumeiden] as a seller.
A girl, 21, is looking for work. Whatever.
“Job announcements” in Telegram
Many of the new juvenile offenders are completely unknown to the police. This, on the other hand, both complicates and facilitates the work of the police.
Finding the perpetrator of the crime is made difficult by the fact that he can be almost anyone. However, inexperienced perpetrators are often easily caught, as their activities at the crime scene are usually amateurish.
Swedish “child soldiers” are horrified in Denmark
In Denmark, the crimes of Swedish youths have been a hot topic of conversation this summer. Several Swedish youths have been arrested in the country in recent weeks on suspicion of shootings and explosions.
Danish police suspect that since April at least 25 Swedish youths have been lured on social media to commit crimes in Denmark for money, news reports The Danish broadcasting company DR and Danish TV2 earlier in August.
The Minister of Justice of the country Peter Hummelgaard has horrified Swedish “child soldiers” and hitmen.
He has promised to increase control measures at the border between the two countries, for example by means of facial recognition. However, he does not support the introduction of border checks on the Juutinrauma bridge. Random checks on border crossers are already being carried out.
– I take the recent violence very seriously. This is really worrying, the minister said earlier this month.
The Swedish and Danish police have increased their cooperation and assigned their own contact persons to assist the neighboring country’s police.
Today, Wednesday, Hummelgaard will meet the Swedish Minister of Justice by Gunnar Strömmer in Copenhagen to discuss ways to bring organized crime under control.
In the background, the territorial battle of drug criminals
Swedish television SVT’s crime reporter Diamant Salihun according to the background of the situation that escalated in Denmark this summer is drug crime and Denmark’s status as a transit country for drug smugglers to Sweden.
– Danish gangs have taken over large drug shipments from Swedish gangs. This is behind the recent escalation, Salihu estimates with SVT earlier in August.
The fight takes place between Swedish and Danish gangs, between gangs from the same country and sometimes even within gangs.
According to Salihu, young Swedes who take on crime gigs do not understand that the punishments in Denmark are clearly harsher than in Sweden.
– They don’t realize that they are threatened with very severe punishments in Denmark. The fact that they are under 18 years old has no meaning, says Salihu.
In Denmark, certain serious crimes related to gang crime can be sentenced to twice the standard punishment. The minimum age of criminal responsibility in the country is 15 years.
The situation in Finland is different from neighboring countries
The Helsinki police have seen no signs of organized crime activities in Finland similar to those in Sweden and Denmark.
– Gang crime and organized crime in Sweden and Denmark is a little different in form than here in Finland, says the crime inspector Kimmo Sainio From the Helsinki Police Department to .
According to Sainio, there are, for example, the same style of territorial disputes between drug criminals or other showdowns, which seem to be commonplace in Sweden and Denmark.
– For these showdowns, the workforce, that is, the perpetrators of the crimes, is hired, says Sainio.
– In Finland, we don’t have a similar situation where problems are solved with violence. A big factor in that, of course, is the good preliminary investigation cooperation of the authorities and successful preliminary investigations, that it has remained under control here in Finland.
The connection of organized crime between Finland and Sweden can be seen in the importation of drugs. Swedish organized crime groups bring drugs to Finland, which are received by Finnish gangs.
– But there are no signs that a specific Swedish gang or organized criminal group has settled in Finland and taken over the industry here, at least in Helsinki, says Sainio.
The quotes from criminals’ “job advertisements” in the story are messages collected from social media by the Swedish media (DN, SVT).
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