The director of the national police said on Friday that more and more young people are taking part in the gang war that has rocked Sweden in recent months, after violence that left three people dead in 24 hours and shocked the country. AFP.Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Thursday announced military support to stop escalating gang violence.

Swedish police are investigating the murderPhoto: Johan Nilsson / AP / Profimedia

“We have a situation where children themselves contact criminal gangs” to commit murders, national police chief Anders Thornberg said at a press conference.

Sweden has suffered years of violence linked to gang wars for control of the country’s drug and arms trade.

This violence has escalated in recent months due to infighting within one of these gangs. Bloody shootings and explosions are now almost the order of the day.

“Criminals are ruthless,” Thornberg added, describing a well-established system they use when they want to kill their rivals: They turn to outsiders, often minors.

“They provide them with weapons and give them an address for the attack,” he added.

Young people are also often victims.

According to public broadcaster SVT, 12 people were killed in shootings and explosions in September, the deadliest month in four years.

Wednesday night was particularly bloody, with three murders, including an 18-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman.

“Children should have confidence in the future, children and youth should not wish to become criminals,” said the director of the National Police.

Mats Lindström, an observant police officer in the Stockholm region who has analyzed many of the messages through which these murders are ordered, confirms that young people are asking for such “contracts” in large numbers.

“We see how they write: “Are there contracts? Me and my friend are available for 200,000 kroner,” he said. I do this “to get status, to become somebody, to have the ‘aura of a criminal’, as one young man confessed to him during the investigation.

In August 2023, there were 69 people under the age of 18 in detention in Sweden, compared to 14 in the same month in 2021.

On Thursday, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced the strengthening of the army to help the police in their work on the ground and stop the escalation of violence.