“We have a situation where children themselves contact criminal gangs” to commit murders. This chilling observation was not made in Marseille. It comes from Anders Thornberg, the head of the Swedish police, while a deadly gang war, against a backdrop of drug and arms trafficking, has been shaking the country for several months. She has just caused three deaths in twenty-four hours
The escalation of violence in recent months is linked to an internal struggle within one of the criminal gangs. Bloody shootouts and explosions are now almost daily. “Criminals are ruthless,” said the police chief on Friday, describing a well-oiled system that they use when they want to kill their rivals: by calling on external people, often minors. “They provide them with weapons, and give them the address to attack.”
In search of the “aura of a murderer”
According to tallies from public television channel SVT, twelve people died in shootings and explosions in September, the deadliest month in the last four years. The night from Wednesday to Thursday was particularly deadly with three homicides, including those of an 18-year-old and a 25-year-old woman.
“Children should have faith in the future, children and young people should not want to become murderers,” noted Anders Thornberg.
Mats Lindström, police observer in the Stockholm region who has reviewed numerous messaging services where these murders are sponsored. He confirms that young people are very demanding of these “contracts”. “We see that they write: ‘Are there any contracts? Me and my friend are available for 200,000 crowns’,” he explains. They do it “to obtain status, to become someone, to have the “aura of a murderer”” as a young person admitted to him during an investigation.
In August 2023, 69 people under the age of 18 were in pre-trial detention in Sweden, compared to 14 in the same month in 2021. On Thursday, the Swedish Prime Minister spoke of a reinforcement of the army to assist the police in their field work and overcome the escalation of violence.