Sweden and Norway will work more closely together to combat Swedish criminal gangs that have established themselves in Norway, reports Swedish public broadcaster SVT. Norwegian Minister of Justice Emilie Mehl met her Swedish counterpart, Gunnar Strömmer on Wednesday, September 27th, to discuss how to prevent violent crime from crossing the border.
In its threat assessment for 2023 the Norwegian police warned that cooperation between Swedish and Norwegian criminals is now taking place, “especially when it comes to the import and sale of drugs”, and that gang violence might lead to deadly clashes.
“Norwegian criminals are buying weapons and explosives from Swedish criminals,” said Norwegian police chief, Benedicte Bjørnland a few weeks ago, after talking to his Swedish counterpart on deepening their cooperation and sharing intelligence on individual gang members and gangs. “Sweden has seen a worrying development over organised crime, but there has also been a negative development in Norway. In recent years, there has been growing activity by Swedish gang criminals on Norwegian territory, including people being paid to carry out violent crimes,” he added.
Sweden’s police chief Anders Thornberg said that Sweden still stood out when it came to shootings, explosions, and fraud in recent years and had also become a hub for drug smuggling.
Gang violence has been a major problem in Sweden for years, as most fatal shootings in the country are linked to criminal gangs. Last year saw a record 62 fatal shootings and 391 shootings in total. A 2022 report claimed that 85% of the suspects involved in fatal shootings were either born abroad or had at least one foreign-born parent.
As we recently reported, criminal gangs continue to engage in bombings against their rivals, including two such bombings that occurred only this week. The problem has taken on such proportions that Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in a speech to the nation on Thursday, September 28th, announced he will be considering bringing in the military to assist the inadequately equipped police force.
