A third of last year’s 149 bombings affected the Stockholm area. The new year began all the more calmly. According to the police, there were no explosions at all during January.
But on the night of February 2, a powerful explosion occurred at an apartment building in Sundbyberg, north of Stockholm. Barely a day later, it was small at a hairdressing salon in Vinsta, seven kilometers to the west. On the night of Monday, it was time again outside an apartment building in Handen, south of Stockholm.
Four days, three explosions.
— The level of conflict goes up and down and the situation can change quickly. We also said when it was calmer that it can quickly flare up again, and in the last week we can see that it has picked up speed, says Tommy Gustafsson, deputy commanding officer for the police’s special event against gang violence, Frigg.
A powerful explosion occurred during the night of Friday in an apartment building in Sundbyberg, north of Stockholm. File photo. The gangsters’ addresses
Written on the addresses in Sundbyberg and Handen are men suspected of serious crimes during the fall’s wave of violence in Stockholm. Both are currently in custody for aiding and abetting murder, and one of them can, according to TT’s information, be linked to the Foxtrot network.
According to SVT the deed, like recent explosions in Sandviken and Gävle, is connected to people within the Foxtrot network. Tommy Gustafsson is content to state that connections are being investigated and “broadly” have an idea of the situation.
— If we look at the main conflicts – both internally (within the Foxtrot network, editor’s note) and between the two (the Foxtrot and Dalen networks) – we see that the whole country is involved. The networks operate all over the country and young perpetrators from other places are hired to carry out acts of violence.
The explosions are usually aimed at showing off their own side’s capital of violence, he says.
An explosive device detonated in Handen south of Stockholm during the night towards Monday. Stock image.Active under the surface
According to the police, six detonations took place in the South region in January, five in the West region. There have also been more shootings than in Stockholm. But despite an outwardly quiet start to the new year, a lot has happened under the surface there as well, according to Gustafsson.
— The proactive work has continued and we have made many interventions, detentions and seizures.
No one is currently in custody suspected of the explosions in the Stockholm area.
How do you see the risk of new crimes in the near future?
— It is clear that there is always a risk, but we do our utmost 24 hours a day to ensure that this does not happen.