The police in Finland can now confirm that a Swedish criminal network has sold hundreds of kilos of narcotics in Finland.
The infamous gangs from Sweden have begun to establish themselves more and more in the neighboring Nordic countries.
It is, however, a new phenomenon that they are so involved in Finland’s drug trade that it has now been possible to prove, says a Finnish criminal inspector.
Criminal networks are behind the wave of violence with shootings and explosions that resulted in September being the deadliest month in Sweden in at least seven years. Now gang members from notorious criminal networks have spread across the Nordic region.
The Helsinki Police and the Central Criminal Police now confirm that they have seized over 100 kilos of narcotics, 230,000 intoxicating tablets and over 200,000 euros in cash from a Swedish criminal gang importing narcotics into Finland, reports HBL.
The police arrested a total of 30 people in the crackdown. 17 people are still in custody, some of whom are Swedish citizens.
– At the beginning of the year, the Helsinki police seized narcotics, cash and firearms from people who have connections to street gangs. This was the beginning of the investigation into this tangle, says Kimmo Sainio, criminal inspector at the Police Department in Helsinki to the newspaper.
The death squad establishes itself in Finland
According to the criminal inspector, it is a new phenomenon that Swedish criminal gangs are so extensively involved in the Finnish drug trade. The Finnish police have therefore cooperated with Swedish authorities to investigate the gang criminals who reside in Sweden.
– The direct connection to Swedish organized crime is worrying for Finland. Drug crime includes violence and firearms as an important part. At the moment, the threshold to use such is very low in Sweden, says the criminal inspector.
Several Finnish media have also reported that the criminal network Death Patrol, which has its stronghold in the Stockholm region, has established itself in Finland.
Swedish criminal gangs are spreading in the Nordic region
TV4 Nyheterna has previously also reported that the infamous Foxtrot network has invaded Norway.
Swedish gang criminals are said to have drastically increased their activity in the neighboring country.
– Our countries have in common that there are many young people who are recruited into crime, therefore the most important thing for us in Norway is to understand how we can stop it and how we can throttle the networks’ access to people, said Norway’s Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl.
However, according to Sweden’s Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer (M), it is not surprising that the criminal networks are spreading to neighboring countries.