Several shootings and explosions have taken place in a short time in Södertälje, and the police see several similarities with the spiral of violence that plagued the municipality in the fall of 2022. Then several murders and attempted murders were committed over the course of a week.
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The conflict was basically about a split within the Södertälje network, where the so-called Ronnaphalangen ended up on one side and the Saltskogphalangen on the other. That conflict is still alive, according to Kristoffer Olofsson.
— It is an area of conflict that has gone up and down in intensity over the past two years.
At the same time, other conflicts are going on in parallel in the municipality.
— There are local conflicts between criminal groups that deal with small geographic areas for the drug market. There are also conflicts driven by revenge and fear of being the victims of gross violence themselves, he says.
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Young people are recruited
What complicates the police’s work is that very young people are used to commit serious crimes. Many times it is people who are not previously known to the police who, according to Olofsson, are recruited via social media.
– We also see that criminal individuals and networks collaborate and network with others from other parts of the country. What is very worrying right now is that several young people are being used as perpetrators of serious violent crimes anywhere in the country, says Olofsson.
— They are paid very little to carry out terrible acts of violence. We really need to help together in society to create a safety net around our young people, because we see that many are cynically exploited.
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Not limited
In addition to the fact that the perpetrators are very young, the police see another challenge ahead; that the conflicts are not limited to, for example, a neighborhood or a district, which they often are.
— There are certainly several different reasons why it is escalating now, but also that it is about parallel conflict surfaces that are going on at the same time. says Olofsson.
To try to prevent new crimes, the police are increasing their presence throughout the municipality.
— We will be out in Södertälje in a variety of places with a very high police presence, to prevent and prevent this development.
– It will be noticed that there are more police out on the streets of Södertälje.
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