FLASH
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Criminal networks are recruiting and using minors as paid operatives for shootings, bombings, and contract killings.
Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, has a term for this: “violence as a service.” Teenagers are recruited to carry out attacks, while the adult organizers remain insulated from prosecution. This model developed in Sweden and is now spreading. Last month, Spanish police dismantled a ring in Alicante that recruited Swedish and Danish teenagers for hit-and-run operations.
In Sweden, gang violence is considered a national emergency. According to Reuters, there were more than 30 gang-related bomb explosions in the Stockholm region in January 2025 alone.
The Associated Press reported that Sweden recorded 124 explosions and 261 shootings in the first nine months of 2023. There were 257 bomb attacks in 2019, up from 162 in 2018.
Who is being recruited? A 2021 report by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention found that foreign-born individuals, as well as those born in Sweden to two foreign-born parents, are significantly over-represented among suspects in serious criminal offenses, including serious violent crimes, even after controlling for income, education, age and gender.
Official crime data shows that foreign-born residents and those with two foreign-born parents are over-represented among suspects in serious criminal offences. Sweden's foreign-born population includes large communities with origins from the Middle East and Africa, including Syrians, Afghans, Somalis and Iraqis.
The reason why young, foreign-born or second-generation immigrant children are targeted by gangs is probably economic. OECD analysis of Sweden's labor market has shown that immigrants and their children face persistent disadvantages in employment, with unemployment and youth disengagement concentrated among low-educated groups in which foreign-born and second-generation populations are overrepresented.
Many of the worst crimes are being committed by just a few groups.
On March 12, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned the Foxtrot Network and its leader, Rawa Majid. It said Foxtrot was one of the most “notorious” criminal gangs based in Sweden and “one of the most prominent drug trafficking organizations in the region.” The department said Foxtrot “routinely” uses teenagers to carry out attacks. U.S. and British authorities have also said Foxtrot orchestrated attacks on behalf of Iran, including one targeting the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm. The Swedish Security Service has separately warned that Iran uses criminal networks in Sweden to carry out violent acts.
Swedish gangs have built a fearsome crime system that combines division, resentment and violence into an exportable method of violence. All of Europe is vulnerable. /Adapted from The Spectator /
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