Despair grows in Sweden as children are growingly recruited by criminal gangs across the country, instilling an insatiable thirst for killing among mostly troubled minors in exchange for negligible benefits.

Swedish police concluded an investigation of a year-old case in which an 11-year-old child exhibited his desire for murder, saying he "cannot wait for his first dead body," on Instagram. A 19-year-old contact then reportedly offered him 150,000 kronor, or $13,680 for a murder, along with some clothes and transport to the crime scene, in the Varmland province, AFP reported.  

The findings of the investigation charged four men, aged 18 to 20, with recruiting minors aged 11 to 17, to work for a local gang. All suspects were arrested before the crimes could be committed. 

This incident is not an isolated one. Sweden continues to grapple with a surge in gang-related shootings and bombings, driven by turf wars and disputes over the drug trade. Last year, 53 people were killed in shootings across Sweden, often in public spaces, with innocent bystanders increasingly among the victims.  

How gangs operate

Sweden’s gang crime is highly organized and sophisticated, with leaders operating from abroad through intermediaries who use encrypted platforms like Telegram, Snapchat, and Signal to recruit children under 15. 

"It is organised as a kind of (job) market where missions are published on discussion forums, and the people accepting the assignments are increasingly young," said Johan Olsson, head of the Swedish police's National Operations Department (NOA), during a press briefing last month.  

Assignments are subcontracted, with communication limited to online exchanges, explained Sven Granath, a criminology professor at Stockholm University, to AFP. Others recruit directly, targeting kids lingering in their neighborhoods. 

The number of murder-related cases in Sweden involving suspects under 15 has surged, rising from 31 in the first eight months of 2023 to 102 in the same period this year, according to the Prosecution Authority.  

Granath explains that these children are often struggling in school, dealing with addiction or attention deficit disorders, or already involved in minor crimes, and are recruited into conflicts they have no personal stake in, acting as mercenaries without previous gang affiliations.  

Some children actively seek out contracts, motivated by money, adrenaline, recognition, or a desire for belonging, according to a report by the National Council for Crime Prevention (BRA). Flashy clothing and promises of loyalty further lure them in.  

A record-breaking phenomenon

Former gang member Viktor Grewe, 25, accused "crimfluencers" on TikTok, who glamorize the criminal lifestyle, of promoting the phenomenon and attracting younger kids. Grewe, who left the crime life at 22, stated that most child recruits are aware that they would not make it past the age of 25. 

Criminal gangs in Sweden exploit young people ruthlessly, says Tony Quiroga, a police commander in Orebro, west of Stockholm. Gangs rely on subcontractors to avoid direct risks, using pseudonyms on social media and multiple layers of anonymity to distance themselves from crimes.

While police exert efforts to mitigate the rates of criminal recruitment, such as deploying volunteers in disadvantaged neighborhoods to warn the youth of the dangers of such conduct, the phenomenon remains heavily present across the country. 

Sweden, formerly recognized for its calm and law-abiding citizenry, has been afflicted by gun violence, explosives, and gang crime for many years. The country also broke the terrible European record for the most deadly shootings in a single year in 2022, outnumbering neighboring Nordic countries by a significant margin.