Norway increasingly concerned about Swedish gangs – Euractiv

Norway is increasingly concerned about Swedish criminal gangs, who are already known for their crimes in Denmark, where they operate throughout the country and are involved in a number of serious violent crimes.

“It is serious. We are afraid that the development we have seen in Sweden will infect us,” Kjetil Tunold, head of the organized crime department at the Norwegian National Bureau of Investigation, told the Swedish national broadcaster SVT on sunday

One of the cases in which Swedish gang criminals are suspected of involvement is the explosion in a residential house in Dröbak, south of Oslo, last autumn. Three Swedes with gang connections were charged with attempted murder after the incident.

According to Tomas Staerk, head of the detective department of Norway’s Eastern Police District, several Swedish criminal networks have established themselves in the area.

“We are concerned about the gross use of violence and that the Swedish gangs will recruit vulnerable young people to join them,” he said, adding that he was particularly concerned about crimes related to drug trafficking.

“It concerns money laundering, economic crime, violence and threats,” said Staerk.

Swedish gangs are now active in all 12 police districts in Norway and may be linked to the import and distribution of drugs in Norway, according to the Norwegian police’s national threat report on criminal networks.

The Norwegian police have asked the government for support to carry out patrols together with the Swedish police in border areas that are particularly vulnerable to crime by Swedish gangs.

In the request, the police point out that the district police in the Swedish regions of Värmland, Dalarna and Jämtland describe the situation as exceptional. The authorities believe that there is a high risk of a trend towards more serious violence.

“If the level of violence increases in one place, it can spread, so you hit back with the same coin. It becomes a kind of spiral of violence,” Tunold said SVT.

A broader problem

It is not the first time that Swedish criminal gangs have caused problems in neighbouring Scandinavian countries.

Denmark announced on Friday that it will introduce border controls with Sweden, after Swedish gang violence spread to Denmark in recent weeks and after Swedes were arrested on suspicion of several violent crimes in Denmark.

“The reality now is that not only Denmark but also large parts of the Scandinavian countries are feeling the consequences of Sweden’s long-standing failed immigration and justice policies, and we take that very seriously,” Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard (Social Democrats, S&D) said at a press conference on August 14.

Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer (Moderate, EPP) said in response to Reuters that Denmark also bore some responsibility for its own gangs, but that it agreed with much of the criticism of Sweden’s gang problem.

In response, a Nordic hub of police officers from Finland, Norway and Denmark will be set up in Stockholm. Norwegian and Finnish officers are already involved, and Danish officers will join in a few weeks.

Sweden, with a population of just 10 million, has the highest rate of gun violence per capita in the EU, with 55 fatal shootings in 363 incidents last year – far more than the combined total of six fatal shootings in the other three Nordic countries.

(Charles Szumski | Euractiv.com)