Rissa Seidou compares the recruitment to the gangs to how it is done in other extreme groups, such as Nazis. She believes that the young people who apply to the environments often feel seen and like they can “become someone”.
– It can be any child, ordinary school children who are 13 years old, she says.
Seidou believes that the recruitment often takes place in secret, via social media and outside the school.
– That you get there and you offer a young person that they can have a soft drink. Says that “You are good, you are good”. And that they get to borrow a cap from a gang member – because you want to wear these branded clothes and show off at school.
“Strong attraction”
Even Diamant Salihu, crime reporter at SVT, believes that status attracts.
– One should not forget that there is a strong attraction in this environment. There is a form of gangster culture that attracts.
Previously, it was mainly talked about that children who come from vulnerable areas are drawn into gangs, but a shift has started to take place, says Diamant Salihu.
– I get signals from the police and social workers that more children from the middle class, who may have more stable home conditions, still seek this environment.
Want to take contract killing
Mats Lindström, detective leader at the Stockholm police region, believes that there is often also a willingness among many young people to take on contract killings. The police see in chats how they themselves request assignments from criminals higher up in the networks.
– Another way is that you have a local network that wants to carry out a murder, where they ask around among their younger guys if there is anyone who wants to drive.
Sweden is a relatively small country, which means that some people from different parts of the country come into contact within the networks because they have been in the same Sis or HVB home. It allows them to bring someone from another city to carry out a murder.
Even Mats Lindström sees status as a driving force:
– “Having the aura of being a murderer”, as one person said in an investigation I was part of.