Sweden eyes radical steps against gang-related organized crime

By Leila Nezirevic

LONDON (AA) - Sweden plans to develop a national strategy to combat organized crime, the country's justice minister announced on Tuesday.

"We must bring about a completely different collective system force to push back the gangs," Gunnar Strommer said at a conference on security and defense policy in the southwestern town of Salen.

In his address at the People and Defense conference, Strommer said the government intends to amend legislation on gang-related crime and increase the operational capacity of the country's police force.

He underlined that it was absolutely crucial that "we do not allow ourselves to be blunted or give up" on the matter, which will be a top priority for a new council established to draw up the strategy against organized crime.

That council is expected to begin work as early as next week under the Justice Ministry.

Sweden already has national strategies against terrorism and violent extremism and the government now wants a similar strategy against gang-related crime.

- Organized crime poses 'systemic threat'

While there is some indifference to the issue of criminal gangs in Sweden, they pose a "systemic threat" to the country, Strommer stressed, comparing them to domestic terrorists.

From the opposition, the Social Democrats' legal policy spokesperson Ardalan Shekarabi came out against some of the government's proposals, such as visitation zones.

Above all, the strategy lacks preventive measures to stop new recruitment to the gangs, he told public broadcaster SVT, also raising concern about the government applying harsh penalties even when children are involved in serious crime.

Over the last decade, authorities in Sweden have struggled to contain escalating gang-related crime.

The Scandinavian country is often referred to as "the capital of Europe" when it comes to deadly shootings due to gang violence and organized crime.

Last year has been the bloodiest yet, with over 60 fatal shootings related to gangs on record, according to SVT.