Last week, the mother of a well-known gang criminal was murdered in the troubled suburb of Gränby in Uppsala. Police now fear a wave of bloody revenge attacks and have placed several addresses under constant surveillance.
On Thursday, two individuals were arrested on probable grounds suspected of the murder. Both young men, aged 15 and 19, deny the charges.
The perpetrators are not local to Uppsala but come from Stockholm and Western Sweden. According to the police, it has become increasingly common for criminal networks to employ people living in other cities to commit murder.
– It follows a pattern we have seen in the past year, that very young people from outside are hired to commit serious crimes here, says Andreas Pallinder, investigative chief at the Uppsala police, to the state channel SVT.
The Uppsala police reportedly have received reinforcements and have also increased the surveillance and monitoring of certain particularly interesting individuals. The police assess the risk of revenge actions as high and have therefore also called in already retired police officers for duty.
– We are preparing for an escalation, although of course we want to avoid it. We have addresses under surveillance and the local police area is working intensively to have a presence in the right places, continues the investigative chief.
The son of the murdered woman is said to have a prominent position in the Foxtrot gang, which among other things is involved in drug trafficking and murder and has been involved in several high-profile shootings.
The gang’s leader Rawa Majid is wanted for serious drug offenses and preparation for murder but remains hidden in Turkey. According to crime reporter Diamant Salihu, it is likely an internal conflict and split within the criminal network that led to the woman’s murder.