Gang violence, including shootings, bombings and stabbings, is no longer a problem unique to Sweden. Alarm bells have been raised after a series of unusually violent incidents on the streets of Copenhagen, all committed by Swedish nationals.
Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard has assured that since April the Danish police have registered 25 cases in which the perpetrators of the crimes are Swedish nationals. In five months, 15 people – mostly minors – have been arrested, accused of crimes as serious as attempted murder and possession of weapons and explosives.
On the night of 31 July, a shooting took place in a popular square in the Danish capital’s Nørrebro district, for which a 16-year-old Swede was arrested. Two days later, a stabbing took place at the entrance to a jewellery store and a kiosk caught fire after being attacked with a hand grenade in the Østerbro district. The last arrest took place on 14 August, when a 25-year-old man was found with two hand grenades in a Copenhagen suburb.
Swedish Criminals for Hire
Danish law enforcement authorities have linked the incidents to a new trend in Denmark’s criminal environment. Investigators say Swedish criminals are being hired by Danish crime networks “to do their dirty work” and commit attacks, murders and explosions, police inspector Torben Svarrer said.
To address the spiralling violent incidents, the Justice Ministers of Sweden and Denmark met last week in Copenhagen to improve cooperation and strategies to combat the expansion of gangs. “Unfortunately, we are aware that gang violence knows no borders. Therefore, our response must be strong and coordinated,” said Danish Minister Peter Hummelgaard.
The minister stressed that gang-related crime “has not been adequately addressed in Sweden in recent years” and called the criminals “child soldiers”, who live in Sweden in a “sick” culture of violence, which Denmark does not want to see in anyway.
His Swedish counterpart, Gunnar Strömmer, responded that “Denmark also has some responsibility for its own criminal networks,” but accepted many of Hummelgaard’s criticisms of his country’s gang “problem.” Strömer also announced that Sweden would take drastic measures against violence, adapting its legislation to that of Denmark, which provides for harsher prison sentences even for minors.
As part of the deal to curb the spread of gangs, ministers said they would step up information sharing and efforts to prevent the recruitment of young people through social media.
Ahead of the meeting, the Swedish government announced the creation of a Nordic police center, in collaboration with Norway, Denmark and Finland, to stop the expansion of criminal networks. Sweden has the highest rate of gun violence per capita in the European Union, with 55 people shot dead last year and 363 gun incidents. In the other three Nordic countries combined, there were only six fatal shootings in 2023.
26,000 euros for murder
The wave of violent incidents and arrests in Denmark has exposed a social media phenomenon that poses a new challenge for police forces. According to Danish authorities, messages written in Swedish have been located to recruit hitmen: “Wanted for Denmark,” some messages read, with an emoticon of an apple, which symbolises a hand grenade. The price paid is 100,000 Danish kroner (13,400 euros). Other messages with an emoticon of a water pistol and the figure 200,000 Danish kroner (26,000 euros) are aimed at potential murderers.
The messages sent from anonymous accounts are aimed at “vulnerable young Swedes who agree to commit crimes not only for money, but also in search of recognition in the criminal world,” explained Danish police inspector Torben Svarrer.
Denmark’s justice minister pointed to social media platforms TikTok and Instagram and said that if it were up to him, posts would be geolocated and blocked, although he acknowledged that this “is not legally possible today.” “We are trying to find ways to do this,” he added. His Swedish counterpart said authorities would require the companies that own the platforms to make “sufficient efforts” to prevent such posts from being published.
Norway also in the spotlight
Beyond Denmark, Norwegian police also fear that Swedish gangs have targeted the country, lured by money and new drug trafficking routes in northern Europe. “This is serious, we fear that the events we have seen in Sweden could affect us as well,” the head of Norway’s Organized Crime Division, Kjetil Tunold, told public broadcaster SVT.
According to official reports, Swedish gangs have already established themselves in all 12 Norwegian police districts in an attempt to control the import and distribution of drugs in the country. The authorities fear that, due to its rather lax surveillance systems, the port of Oslo could become a new entry point for cocaine into northern Europe: last year, 1,847 seizures were made, a higher figure than in the last ten years.
Norwegian police have already asked the government to carry out joint patrols with Swedish officers in border areas most exposed to gang activity, fearing an escalation of violence.
Danish sociologist Aydin Soei says Denmark’s efforts in recent years to combat delinquency and organised crime have meant that today the country does not have the same problem with gangs as Sweden.
In an interview with the Swedish newspaper Daily NewsSoei mentions that since 2018, the Copenhagen authorities have been besieging major criminal networks, such as the “Loyal to Familia” gang, “which has made their activity very difficult, weapons have been confiscated and crimes have been significantly reduced.”
In contrast, Soei explains that in Sweden “there is a subculture in which young people idealize people’s lives.” gangstersexposed on social media profiles with thousands of followers. The sociologist adds that in Sweden, criminals can tell children that “if they serve four years in prison, they will be sentenced 100% gangsters”. However, in Denmark, “it doesn’t sound very good to tell a 15-year-old that he will spend 20 years in prison for committing a crime.”
Beyond tougher sanctions and police pressure, Soei criticizes that Sweden is ignoring the most important aspect in Denmark to stop violence: “In the long term, the only thing we know for sure and that works is preventive social work.” “In vulnerable neighborhoods in Copenhagen, if a young man has been on the street for half an hour doing nothing, someone will come up to him and ask, ‘Shouldn’t you get a part-time job or start playing in the local soccer team?’ We have done a good job of prevention,” he concludes.
