Sweden | Europol: 21 particularly threatening criminal networks operate in Sweden

of the European Union the law enforcement cooperation agency Europol has published a report on particularly threatening criminal networks in the EU. The report reveals interesting information about crime in Sweden.

In Sweden, there are 21 networks at the level of the criteria set by Europol, says the head of Europol's Swedish police national unit Linda H. Staaf.

Published on Friday, April 5 report identifies a total of 821 criminal networks that pose a special threat. The report has been implemented in cooperation with 27 member states and several border states.

The networks include a total of more than 25,000 individual members from 112 different nationalities. Europol does not name criminal networks or their leaders.

Staff points out that in reality there are significantly more criminal networks in Sweden.

“These 21 are the ones that meet Europol's criteria,” says Staaf.

As criteria, Staaf lists, among other things, repeated violence and corruption, as well as the fact that the networks have managed to continue their activities for a long time.

However, according to Staaf, the number is not very large when the situation is compared to other European countries.

“We definitely have a problem with the serious and deadly violence seen especially in youth gang environments, but we can see from the report that we are not alone. A similar development is underway in a large part of Europe,” says Staaf.

Published by the Swedish police in February snapshot report according to the country's criminal organizations, there are approximately 14,000 active members. When people with connections to active members of criminal networks are included, the number is around 60,000.

Staff according to Europol's report gives a wide-ranging picture of the situation of European criminal networks. In addition, it tells what Sweden also has to prepare for in the future.

“Crime no longer looks at borders between countries. That's why it's increasingly important to do what we can to prevent criminals from moving from one country to another,” says Staaf.

He praises Nordic cooperation and the exchange of information, which has been used to combat cross-border criminal activity for a long time. However, in the strategic fight against European criminal networks, the Nordic countries could work more closely together.

“It is clear that together we are stronger compared to small countries talking about their problems alone,” says Staaf.

According to Staaf, the Swedish networks taken into account in the Europol report commit, among other things, drug crimes, tax crimes, money laundering, theft and weapons crimes.

In addition, the report states that Swedes, Italians and Cypriots dominate extortion crimes committed by the networks listed by Europol.

Particularly According to Europol, the criminal networks designated as threatening show considerable agility, for example, in utilizing legal business models to hide crime.

86 percent of criminal networks hide behind seemingly legitimate companies in, for example, the restaurant, transport and construction sectors, the report says. In addition, they have the ability to infiltrate legal systems and social institutions.

The 821 criminal networks identified in the report operate, for example, in the fields of drug trafficking, smuggling and violent crime.

Most of the criminal networks are focused on one type of crime. Only less than a fifth of the networks engage in so-called multi-criminal activities. Half of the networks are involved in the drug trade.

the head of Europol Catherine De Bollen according to the analysis of criminal networks that pose a particular threat creates a basis for cooperation, which can be used to combat their activities in Europe and beyond.