Therefore, the gangs want to recruit more girls

Criminal networks have set up systems to use relatively unpunished women in their operations, the police describe in a preliminary investigation.
Among other things, because they more easily “fly under the police’s radar”.
– You don’t look at a woman if she’s a criminal, of course it’s used, says former gang member Peter Svensson.

Weapons crime, drug smuggling, kidnapping and aiding and abetting murder. There are only a few gang-related crimes that have been committed recently with the common denominator that women have been involved.

Notable cases include the murder at the Emporia mall in Malmö, where a 21-year-old woman is accused of having participated in and planned the murder, which a 15-year-old boy is convicted of having carried out.

In Sundsvall, a 38-year-old mother of young children was sentenced to seven years in prison for acting as a decoy in a planned murder.

Under the radar

One of the reasons why women are increasingly involved in criminal gangs is that they can more easily fly under the police’s radar, says former gang member Peter Svensson, who today works in a sheltered accommodation.

– I know it’s like that, it’s not what I think. We can look at how women dress versus men. The men need confirmation, they must be seen, they must be heard, have watches and gold, while you don’t see that the women are criminals, he says in After five, and continues:

– I asked a guy I worked with if they use women. He replied “what do you think? Should I take the brother in the Adidas suit and Gucci cap and deliver three kilos of cocaine, or should I take the woman in the Louis Vuitton bag”. Where are the risks greatest?”.

Green rubber bands

The crime reporter Linda Hjertén has reviewed the gang violence on behalf of Aftonbladet, and according to her, it has become more common for the gangs to use so-called “green girls”.

– These are girls who look good, have an unblemished criminal record and against whom there are no direct reasons to be suspicious. There is no reason for the police to keep tabs on them, she says.

Furthermore, Hjertén believes that the development with more women in gang crime may have only just begun.

– Some police officers I have spoken to believe that we will soon see criminal networks consisting only of women, she says in Efter fem.