The Sør-West police district sees increasing activity from Swedish criminal networks in the Stavanger region. The target group is often young men whom the Swedes try to recruit. A man who has been charged with complicity in murder after a gang settlement in Malmö is among the Swedes who have stayed in Stavanger. This murder was carried out by a 15-year-old on behalf of an organized criminal milieu. – The police are aware that Swedish criminals have, among other things, made contact with underage boys in the police district. The purpose of the contact is to get the boys to carry out various types of crime for them, including selling drugs, says Thor Magne Løge, operations unit manager at the joint unit for intelligence and investigation in the Sør-West police district. Thor Magne Løge, South-West police district. Photo: Bjørn Olav Skjæveland / news The police say they are working closely with these young people. – The local young people who are approached by the Swedes are already in a risk group in terms of crime. This is an environment the police pay close attention to, says Løge. Seeking out in outdoor areas So far, it has been revealed that attempts at recruitment take place physically by the Swedes making contact in outdoor environments where the young people stay. The recruitment can also take place via other channels, such as online, but such contacts, the police say, are more difficult to detect. The police in Stavanger say they are working actively to stop Swedish criminal networks. Photo: Josef Benoni Ness Tveit / news According to the intelligence chief, several criminals with connections to Malmö have tried to gain a foothold in the Stavanger region, but he says that the police’s active efforts have so far prevented the establishment of criminal, Swedish networks. – The police are following developments closely, and crime linked to Swedish communities has a high priority. In several cases investigated by the Sør-West police district, it has been discovered that the people involved have connections to Sweden, says Thor Magne Løge. Two weeks ago, the Swedish journalist and author Diamant Salihu went on news Dagsrevyen and said that the bloody gang war could move to Norway. Kripos confirmed that Norway is a lucrative market for Swedish criminal networks. – If you want to sell drugs in Sweden today, you know that you are risking the lives of family members. But in Norway there is no such competition. Therefore, the demand for drugs will cause the criminals to seek refuge in Norway, said Salihu when he recently visited news. Two Malmö men arrested in Stavanger Sør-Vest police district do not want to go into details about the investigation of specific cases, but news knows that a 24-year-old Swedish citizen from Malmö is currently in custody in Sør-Rogaland, while a 30-year-old Swedish citizen year from Malmö earlier this year was handed over from Stavanger to Sweden at the request of the Swedish police. The shopping center in Malmö was evacuated when the shooting started in August last year. A 15-year-old shot and killed the leader of a motorcycle club on behalf of another gang. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT / NTB The 30-year-old has recently been charged with complicity in murder after a gang settlement at the Emporia shopping center in Malmö on 19 August last year. There, a leading member of the MC club Satudarah was shot and killed. Besides the 30-year-old, four other men and two women are charged with murder or complicity in the murder at the shopping centre. A 15-year-old boy carried out the murder on behalf of the rest of the gang. “The investigation shows that the murder was planned over a long period of time. The murder was a pure execution and several visitors to the shopping center were exposed to life-threatening danger,” said a press release from the Swedish public prosecutor’s office when the indictment was brought out in October. The accused 30-year-old lived in Stavanger for several months last winter. This spring he was arrested and extradited to Sweden, at the request of the Swedish police. – Wanted to start again A 24-year-old, also from Malmö, is accused of, among other things, robbery and possession of drugs in a criminal case that will appear before Sør-Rogaland district court in January. He has previously been convicted of several cases of crime in Sweden, including serious breaches of the Weapons Act, as well as drug offences. Anne Kroken says that her client came to Stavanger to get a regular job. He wants to get away from a criminal environment in Malmö. Photo: Thomas Ystrøm / news news has spoken to lawyer Anne Kroken, who defends the 24-year-old, and lawyer Hans Marius D. Thorsnæs, who assisted the 30-year-old in the extradition case. According to both lawyers, the Swedes had the same explanations for why they were in Stavanger. This was about a need to get away from criminal environments in Sweden, and a desire to get normal jobs in Stavanger, and start a new life. – My client firmly claims that he does not belong to any criminal network in Sweden, says Anne Kroken. The police: – More comprehensive thinking The police do not readily buy such explanations from Swedes in the Stavanger region with criminal records and connections to gang environments from their home country. – Our opinion is that they have a more comprehensive idea behind establishing themselves here in the region, and that it is about criminal network building, says Thor Magne Løge. news has read court documents from Sweden where it is stated that Swedish police already assessed in 2020 that the 24-year-old had relations with organized crime. The police chief does not want to go into more detail about the two specific cases highlighted by news. – When did the attempts by Swedish networks to establish themselves in the Stavanger region start? – We don’t know exactly, but we have the impression that it has picked up in the last year. But this may also be connected to the fact that we have increased our attention when it comes to Swedish networks, says Thor Magne Løge. – Do you see any links between criminal Swedes here in the region and networks in Sweden such as Foxtrot or the rival Dalen network? – I don’t want to comment on that, says Thor Magne Løge. Contact also in Bergen news has also been in contact with the West police district, which includes Bergen. Helge Stave is head of the joint unit for intelligence and investigation, i.e. the same position as Thor Magne Løge in South-West. Stave says that it is not unusual for contact between criminal networks in their police district and foreign networks, including Swedish ones. – We see Swedes who settle in Bergen after having stayed in Sweden, with connections to criminal circles there. Some of these also have contact with young criminal circles in Bergen. Based on what has happened in Sweden, it is clear that we are following closely. And this is also something that the Norwegian Police Directorate has asked all the police districts to pay close attention to, says Helge Stave.
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Minors in Norway attempted to be recruited by Swedish criminal network – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
