Denmark to pressure Sweden over gang violence

Denmark will pressure Sweden to curb rising cross-border gang violence, which has also seen armed Swedish teenagers act as “child soldiers” in turf wars, Denmark’s justice minister said on Monday.

Denmark has seen a rise in violence by Swedish gang members on its own soil in recent months. The country says the trend is a spillover to its northern neighbour, which has the highest per capita rate of gun violence in the European Union.

Danish police began more active checks on train passengers from Sweden last week. On Monday, the government announced plans to introduce facial recognition technology to speed up investigations that are currently conducted manually.

“We will of course also put pressure on Sweden to take responsibility for these matters,” Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard told Danish TV2.

Swedish gang members involved in the violence will also face serious consequences, the Danish police chief said.

“There will be a price to pay and it will be high,” Thorkild Fogde said at a press conference in Copenhagen.

The Swedish Ministry of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to a police report from last year, there are approximately 14,000 active gang criminals in Sweden and another 48,000 people who are loosely involved in gangs.

According to the EU statistics office Eurostat, 25 people between the ages of 15 and 24 died from gun violence in Sweden in 2021. This makes Sweden the country with the most deaths in the EU, after France, which had 40 deaths in a population six times larger than Sweden’s.

Police officers work at the scene after a person was shot and killed in Skarholmen in southern Stockholm, Sweden, April 10, 2024. Oscar Olsson/TT News Agency/via REUTERS/File photo Yayha, a former gang criminal who refused to give his last name or show his face, stands in Gothenburg, Sweden, June 13, 2024. REUTERS/Johan Ahlander/File photo