“Kill or be killed”: Gang crime in Sweden escalates Selenskyj promotes NATO membership again +++ Germany examines main battle tank supply

Shots are fired, explosives explode and bystanders are hit again and again: a brutal war between hostile gangs keeps Sweden in suspense. In the Stockholm area alone, five violent crimes took place within hours. One man was killed, officers found the victim with gunshot wounds. “Gang crime is escalating,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told SVT on Saturday. “These are people with an extreme potential for violence who, seeking revenge or status, threaten the safety and freedom of others.”

Kristersson’s new government has vowed to tackle the gang violence that Sweden has struggled with for years. In 2022, there were 388 firearm incidents in the EU country and 61 people were killed. The police seem to have lost control. Since 2015, the clear-up rate for fatal attacks has fallen, by 2022 only every fourth act will lead to a conviction. As a result, the gangs view murder as risk-free, said criminologist Amir Rostami. The criminals are getting bolder.

Investigator Caroline Asplund accuses the police of “total failure”. Officials have always required others, such as social services, schools and parents, to help with prevention. The authority itself lacks self-criticism.

In the Stockholm area, the number of shots and explosions has noticeably increased since Christmas: the police counted more than 20 incidents in December.

Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer speaks of “terrorists”. “That’s why it’s so incredibly important that we don’t go numb,” he said. About 190 officials from other parts of the country were sent to the capital to provide support. Strömmer wants, among other things, to expand the possibilities for eavesdropping on suspected perpetrators. In addition, the conservative government, supported by right-wing populists, wants to tighten immigration policy. This would also affect gang crime: according to experts, members are increasingly recruited from immigrant families.

A conflict over the drug market in the city of Sundsvall, nearly 400 kilometers further north, is said to be one of the reasons. According to the SVT and the newspaper Aftonbladet, a 24-year-old with a criminal network is in charge there and a 36-year-old living in Turkey – known in Sweden as the “Kurdish fox” – wants to challenge him for the position. Several acts would be directed against relatives of the two protagonists.

A police spokeswoman called the situation “very tense”. “This is not the norm and has never happened in this spiral of violence,” she said. A police expert on gang violence, Gunnar Appelgren, spoke of a very serious conflict. It’s about kill or be killed.

Victims and perpetrators are always younger. Two minors were injured in a chase on Friday evening. Police found weapons in the car they were driving. Also on Saturday afternoon, three young people were arrested after a man was shot at in Stockholm’s southern Enskede district. Half of the suspects are under the age of 18, research commander Hanna Paradis recently said.

The crimes cause fear among local residents. On December 27, two girls in Enskededalen, a suburb in the south of Stockholm, heard a loud bang. At first they thought the sound was coming from the TV, says 10-year-old Liv SVT. But it was an explosion. She has felt insecure ever since, the girl said. (sda/dpa)