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The Nordic Times

Polaris of Enlightenment

The Nordic Times

The Nordic Times

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https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/sweden/report-thousands-of-swedish-gang-criminals-live-on-welfare-benefits/

Sweden

Report: Thousands of Swedish gang criminals live on welfare benefits

organized crime

Published today 2:43 pm – By Editorial staff
According to the latest report from Försäkringskassan, over 4,000 gang criminals are estimated to have been granted benefits totaling approximately €320 million.
3 minute read
Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

A new report from Försäkringskassan (the Swedish Social Insurance Agency) shows that around 4,000 individuals assessed by police as actively involved in gang crime receive their primary income through Swedish welfare systems. The report has sparked strong reactions within the government.

According to the report, the benefits primarily consist of sickness benefits, disability benefits, and activity support.

In total, approximately €320 million has been paid out in recent years to around 4,000 individuals in the gang criminal environment.

Among the benefit-related criminal schemes identified in the report are fake medical certificates and so-called sham separations, where couples register as separated but in practice continue living together.

Anna Tenje, Swedish Minister for Elderly Affairs and Social Insurance, has reacted strongly to the findings.

In a comment to the Swedish news agency TT, she says: – This is astonishing and deeply provocative. Our collective welfare funds should go to those with the greatest need. Instead, they end up in criminals' pockets and fuel gang crime.

Anna Tenje emphasizes that the findings confirm a problem the government has long been aware of, and points to several measures aimed at stopping welfare fraud linked to the gang criminal environment.

Pengar lön köpkraft
According to Försäkringskassan, several billion has been paid out to gang criminals in recent years. Press photo: Riksbanken

Stricter regulations

An important component, according to Anna Tenje, is the new legislation on confidentiality-breaking provisions that will take effect in December this year. This tool is intended to make it easier for government agencies to share information with each other.

She also highlights efforts against fake medical certificates and a stricter sanction system with benefit blocks for individuals who repeatedly commit welfare fraud.

The government estimates that between €1.3 and €1.7 billion is paid out incorrectly from welfare systems each year, of which approximately half is assessed to constitute outright welfare fraud.

– This is about maintaining the legitimacy of the systems. Hard-working people must be able to trust that the money goes to the right people. If we are to break the gangs, we must cut off this supply of our collective tax funds, says Tenje.

Försäkringskassan: "facade of legitimate income"

Nils Öberg, director general of Försäkringskassan, says in a press release that the report shows how gang criminals exploit the social insurance system to create a "facade of legitimate income".

​– We see increasing gang crime that attacks the entire society, and we are now working on a broad front to secure the welfare system. This report is a result of government agencies now being able to share information with each other to a much greater extent than before. This makes it easier for us to break down the criminal economy, he says in a comment to TV4, owned by Norwegian media company Schibsted.

The Swedish police's latest situation assessment shows that around 67,500 people are part of the Swedish gang environment.

Of these, 17,500 are classified as active gang criminals, while the remainder are assessed as having some form of connection to the networks.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

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https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/how-sweden-could-be-affected-by-denmarks-bandidos-ban/

The Nordics

How Sweden could be affected by Denmark’s Bandidos ban

organized crime

Published October 30, 2025 – By Editorial staff
Researchers disagree on whether gang bans actually work in practice.
2 minute read
Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

The motorcycle gang Bandidos has been banned and dissolved in Denmark through a ruling by the Helsingør District Court. The decision means that the gang's symbols will be illegal to use in the country.

Swedish experts are now warning that the ban could have unwanted consequences on the Swedish side – Danish members may move their operations here.

David Sausdal, associate professor of sociology at Lund University in southern Sweden, has had contact with Bandidos members in his research who openly stated that if they are banned from wearing their gang vests in Denmark, they will cross over to Skåne (the southernmost region of Sweden) to do so there instead.

— They meet and know each other. MC gangs are quite large in Sweden. It's not unthinkable that they might think, well then we'll move to Sweden, or operate more in Sweden, he tells the Swedish news agency TT.

Kim Moeller, professor of criminology at Malmö University in southern Sweden, believes the consequences for Sweden are difficult to predict.

— Bandidos in Sweden, Denmark and the rest of Europe cooperate, so a ban could in one way weaken Bandidos in Sweden, he explains.

At the same time, Moeller also points to the risk that Danish members will become more visible on Swedish soil.

— It could also strengthen Swedish Bandidos if some of the most motivated Danish members start traveling more to Sweden or perhaps even move here.

Significant capacity for violence

During the trial, Bandidos defense attorney Michael Juul Eriksen argued that the organization is fundamentally a motorcycle club with a long tradition of fellowship. He also highlighted charity work, including collections for Ukraine.

But the district court didn't buy that argument and instead pointed to the crimes committed by members as part of the motorcycle club's activities. Bandidos is considered one of the gangs in Denmark with the greatest capacity for violence.

This is not the first time a gang has been banned in Denmark. Five years ago, Loyal to Familia was banned, but the gang is still active in the country.

Unclear effect

In Sweden, work is underway to introduce a ban on participation in criminal gangs, but new legislation is not expected until January 2027 at the earliest because it requires a constitutional amendment.

Whether gang bans actually work is also debated among researchers. Kim Moeller believes the effect is obvious and points out that Loyal to Familia has become both less visible and less criminally active after the ban.

David Sausdal, however, has a different view and regards gang bans as a costly and complicated symbolic measure with limited effect on crime.

— They haven't succeeded in breaking them up. Several reports indicate that they exist and are still involved in various types of serious crime.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/world/massive-police-raid-in-rio-at-least-64-killed-in-bloody-confrontation/

World

Massive police raid in Rio – at least 64 killed in bloody confrontation

organized crime

Published October 29, 2025 – By Editorial staff
Brazilian security forces in 2012. The country has for decades fought against organized crime and drug cartels in the favela areas of major cities.
2 minute read
Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

One of the deadliest police operations in modern Brazilian history ended in massive bloodshed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Tuesday.

At least 60 suspected gang members and four police officers were killed when 2,500 police and soldiers conducted a large-scale raid against the Comando Vermelho cartel in the favela areas of Complexo de Alemão and Penha.

The operation, which according to state governor Claudio Castro was the largest in Rio de Janeiro's history, involved police in helicopters and armored vehicles. During the violent shootouts, 81 suspects were arrested, while 93 rifles and over half a ton of drugs were seized.

Castro said in a video that around 60 criminal suspects were "neutralized" during the raid. According to the state government, "those killed resisted the police action" and an unknown number of people were injured.

The UN human rights office said it was "horrified" by the deadly police operation and reminded authorities of their obligations to comply with international law and human rights.

César Muñoz, head of Human Rights Watch in Brazil, called the events "a huge tragedy" and a "disaster".

— The public prosecutor's office must open its own investigations and clarify the circumstances of each death, Muñoz said.

"War-like numbers"

Luis Flavio Sapori, a sociologist and security expert, described the scale of the operation as completely unprecedented.

— What's different about today's operation is the magnitude of the victims. These are war numbers, he said.

Sapori also criticized the operation as ineffective because it did not lead to the arrest of leaders but rather foot soldiers who can easily be replaced.

The police and state government, for their part, defend the operation and point out that it was preceded by a year-long investigation of the criminal network. Comando Vermelho, which emerged from Rio de Janeiro's prisons, has in recent years expanded its control over more and more favela areas and, according to authorities, poses a growing threat to security in the city.

Rio has been the scene of deadly police raids for decades. In May 2021, for example, 28 people were killed in the Jacarezinho favela, but Tuesday's operation was significantly larger in scale.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/swedish-gang-crime-spreads-throughout-norway/

The Nordics

“Swedish” gang crime spreads throughout Norway

organized crime

Published October 29, 2025 – By Editorial staff
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre views combating gang crime as a top priority and wants to stop the development before Norway ends up in the same situation as Sweden.
2 minute read
Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

The same gang crime that has long plagued Sweden has now reached all Norwegian police districts. This was stated by Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre during the Nordic Council session in Stockholm, Sweden, where he called for deeper cooperation between the Nordic countries to combat the crime.

During the Nordic summit in connection with the ongoing Nordic Council session in Stockholm, the Nordic prime ministers gathered together with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Crime was high on the agenda, particularly given that gang conflicts in Sweden have increasingly spread to neighboring countries in recent years.

Especially in Norway, Swedish criminal networks have expanded their operations, and Jonas Gahr Støre noted that traces of "Swedish" gang crime can now be found in all Norwegian police districts, which according to him underscores the cross-border nature of the problem.

— It is a less extensive problem in Norway than in Sweden, but for me it is a top priority to combat this, said the Norwegian prime minister.

Deeply concerned about Sweden's development

Gahr Støre welcomed that gang crime is now being discussed at the prime ministerial level, but simultaneously called for further intensification of cooperation. He wants the issue to be raised at upcoming meetings between the Nordic heads of government as well.

— What we see is that when such crime is allowed to develop, it becomes a very difficult task to push it back, warned the Norwegian leader, and continued:

— We have followed this societal problem that Sweden has had in recent years with deep concern.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson expressed understanding that the other Nordic countries want to avoid at all costs having Sweden's gang crime establish itself on their territories.

— Gang criminals respect no borders at all. We know that better than anyone since we are now physically apprehending them in completely different countries far away. They do not respect the Nordic borders and they abuse the openness that exists in the Nordic region. Our ambition is not to export gang criminals to Norway but to lock them up in Swedish prisons, he claimed.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/sweden/youth-prisons-for-13-year-olds-to-open-this-summer-in-sweden/

Sweden

Youth prisons for 13-year-olds to open this summer in Sweden

organized crime

Published October 28, 2025 – By Editorial staff
The number of young people convicted of serious crimes has increased dramatically in recent years.
3 minute read
Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

The Swedish government has tasked the Swedish Prison and Probation Service (Kriminalvården) with preparing special youth prisons for 13- and 14-year-olds who commit serious crimes.

The purpose is to adapt the sentence execution to the child's age and to separate younger offenders from older youth, with the prison units set to be ready by summer.

The Swedish Prison and Probation Service has previously been tasked with preparing youth prisons for 15–17-year-olds convicted of serious crimes. Now the assignment is being expanded to also include criminals aged 13 and 14, in connection with the government's proposal to lower the age of criminal responsibility for serious crimes.

In August 2023, the government received the report A review of regulations on custodial sentences for young people, which proposes that secure youth care be replaced with imprisonment in special youth units at existing facilities.

– Lowering the age of criminal responsibility for the most serious crimes is needed for several reasons. It is important to strengthen redress for crime victims, to protect society and to help children leave the criminal path. This also provides a five-year window for preventive work to catch up with today's reality. The Prison and Probation Service is now tasked with preparing operations in the best way to receive the youngest target group, says Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer.

Age-appropriate adaptation

The Prison and Probation Service must adapt both facilities and operations based on the children's age. Younger children must be kept separate from older youth, and operations must comply with the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

– When 13–14-year-olds are running around with automatic weapons, it must be met with society's full force. To protect others, they must be able to be locked up, and by lowering the age of criminal responsibility, we open up the police's toolbox. It gives us a chance to both stop continued violence and turn around the development for these children before it's too late, says Henrik Vinge (Sweden Democrats), chair of the justice committee in the Swedish Parliament.

Torsten Elofsson, legal policy spokesperson for the Christian Democrats, points out that the need is urgent:

– The number of children, as young as 13–14 years old, committing serious violent crimes has increased dramatically. Measures to prevent this and to also take action after completed crimes are a must. At the same time, the execution needs to be adapted based on the perpetrator's age. It is welcome that the Prison and Probation Service is now tasked with examining how operations need to be adapted.

Martin Melin (Liberals) agrees:

– I have great confidence in the Prison and Probation Service and how they solve the strained situation they have, not least with the shortage of places. I am convinced that they will also be able to ensure that the 13 and 14-year-olds sentenced to prison will be taken care of in the best way.

Planned facilities and timeline

The Prison and Probation Service is planning special youth units for boys at the facilities in Högsbo, Rosersberg, Österåker, Kumla, Skenäs and Täby. For girls, units are planned at Ystad and Sagsjön. Implementation will occur in stages, and not all units will be operational from July 1, 2026.

On September 24, the Ministry of Justice sent out for consultation a draft legislative proposal to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 13 years for crimes with a minimum sentence of four years' imprisonment or more, as well as for attempts, preparation and conspiracy to commit such crimes. The proposal is currently time-limited to five years.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com