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Sweden calls for Nordic efforts to curb the spread of gun crime

Niclas Rolander
| Bloomberg

Sweden will work with the governments and authorities of the Nordic countries to prevent gang violence from spreading across borders, said Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer after a series of violent crimes committed by Swedish perpetrators in Denmark.

The pledge came after Denmark tightened controls at its borders with Sweden following a series of shootings in Copenhagen. According to Denmark's Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard, police registered at least 25 cases between April and early August in which Danish gangs hired young Swedes to commit violent crimes in the capital.

The gangs fight each other and recruit teenagers across the border to attack their opponents. This recruitment has been facilitated by the rise in gun violence in Sweden in recent years, with boys in their early teens being involved as both victims and perpetrators.

“We have to take responsibility for what we can influence, just as Denmark has to take responsibility for what it can do,” Strommer said. “We are talking about Danish criminal networks that recruit people in Sweden to commit crimes in Denmark. So we obviously have a shared responsibility.”

The Danish police have now established a permanent presence in Sweden, further strengthening what Strommer called an already close cooperation. The Swedish authorities are also working with their counterparts in Finland and Norway to prevent cross-border crime.

“The Nordic region is an integrated market in many ways, and this of course also applies when it comes to crime,” said Strommer.

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