False identities, corruption and violence. Organized crime is becoming increasingly sophisticated and poses a growing threat to Swedish society, shows a new situation report from 14 Swedish authorities.
Drug crimes, fraud, environmental crimes and organized theft are identified as the greatest societal threats from organized crime. Behind the crimes lies an advanced criminal infrastructure where gang criminals use false identities and shell companies to launder their criminal proceeds.
The new inter-agency situation report reveals how criminals’ strategies are becoming increasingly advanced. Violence and threats, corruption as well as countermeasures against authority operations are used systematically to protect criminal activities.
— We see, among other things, that crimes that affect many people and companies in everyday life, volume crimes, are very organized and often carried out very professionally, so we cannot just investigate these crimes away, they must also be prevented, says Johan Olsson, chairman of the operational council and head of the Swedish police’s national operational department (NOA).
Lawyers and accountants help criminals
The report identifies five crime areas that contain all six types of criminal infrastructure: drug crimes, fraud, environmental crimes, organized theft crime and crimes against international sanctions. Almost as serious are VAT fraud, excise tax crimes and organized crime in working life.
A central part of the criminal structure is so-called enablers – people who sell their services to criminal networks. This involves everything from money laundering and transport to arranging companies and false identities. According to the report, these enablers are often found among professional groups such as lawyers, brokers and accountants.
The authorities warn that criminals are expected to adapt further to avoid prosecution. Several worrying trends are already visible: criminals use foundations and non-profit associations for their activities, protect assets through false documents and identities, and move operations abroad – particularly to countries without extradition agreements with Sweden.
— The situation report shows the importance of countering the criminal economy, more efforts against enablers and strengthening international cooperation in crime fighting. Both in the authorities’ individual work and in the inter-agency initiative, several initiatives are ongoing to strengthen efforts against the problem picture described in the situation report, explains Olsson.
