Child gangs are menacing Europe |
Criminal networks are recruiting and tasking minors as paid operatives for shootings, bombings and contract killings. Europol, the law enforcement agency of the European Union, has a term for it: ‘violence as a service’. Teenagers are deployed to carry out attacks while adult organisers remain insulated from prosecution. This model was developed in Sweden, and it is now spreading. Last month, Spanish police dismantled a network in Alicante that recruited Swedish and Danish teenagers for murder-for-hire operations.
In Sweden, gang violence is considered a national emergency. According to Reuters, in January 2025 alone there were more than 30 gang-related bombings in the Stockholm region. The........