A few weeks ago, the mother of a gang member was shot and killed in her own home in Uppsala, north of Stockholm. Many feared it would be a turning point and an escalation of the wave of violence: going after mothers could be a declaration of war. In recent days, the Swedish authorities have said that increasingly younger boys are being recruited into the environment, partly because they receive lower sentences if they are caught. Now it has also been revealed that women have gradually gained a more central role in the gangs, since they go a little under the radar of the police. They are called “green wives” in criminal circles. They are often young, unpunished and therefore not in the police’s spotlight. Have been naive A woman SVT has met in prison says she is a little surprised that society does not realize that women can also “choose” criminal activity. At the same time, she also talks about the benefits of this. – There is something about appearance too, with regard to criminal women and criminal men. I see within two seconds whether a man is a criminal, while a woman may look like she works as a broker in Östermalm, she says. – They are probably more important than we think, says Jale Poljarevius, head of investigations at the police in Central Sweden, about the criminal women. In Sundsvall, a 37-year-old woman is accused of having kept an automatic weapon and a 19-year-old woman is said to have helped suspected murderers escape from a youth home. – The women are smart and fly a lot under the radar. It could be that they keep things in their apartments, and in certain cases the women are used to lure out victims, who in the worst case are killed, says Poljarevius. Bias Anna Ekström at the Nationella operativa avdelningen, equivalent to the Norwegian Kripos, has told Svenska Dagbladet that the police have been naive, and therefore missed how central women have been in the criminal organisations. Poljarevius agrees. – It’s probably a bit about our stereotypical way of thinking. We go after those who shout and are visible, but those who are quiet and clever escape. We have to break that mindset, he says. For the past ten years, Peter Svensson has worked to help defectors from criminal circles, and women in particular. – Women are often seen as victims, but if we see someone who wants to escape from crime only as a victim, we will not succeed. Then there is a great chance that the person will return to the same environment, he says. Home-made bomb found SVT has investigated cases where women have played central roles in gang crime in the past year. The 19-year-old who is charged with attempted murder in connection with the escape from the youth home is said to have fled from the police at 180 kilometers per hour. A police patrol repeatedly tried to intervene. She is charged with three others for three attempted murders. The 37-year-old woman in Sundsvall is accused of serious drug crime and breach of the Weapons Act. During a raid at her home, the police found a kilo of cocaine and two automatic weapons. She is also accused of being a decoy and trying to trick a man from a rival gang through a contrived drug deal. Another Sundsvall woman (21) has been charged with planning murder, after she fixed gloves, hand sanitizer and Finnish caps for four people who allegedly planned to kill a rapper. In the same city, a woman (25) was sentenced for several matters. The police found large quantities of drugs, ammunition and a homemade bomb in her apartment. The woman was at the top of Sweden in her sport until a couple of years ago. Peter Svensson believes, like the police, that the challenge has been neglected. – This is a societal problem: We don’t want to see women as criminals, says Svensson.
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“The green wives” are a hidden weapon in the gang war – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
