Once seen as a peaceful Scandinavian welfare state, Sweden is becoming the European Union‘s gun-homicide capital as terrifying gangs bring death and terror to the country.
Deadly violence linked to feuds between criminal groups has escalated in recent years against the backdrop of high levels of migration into Sweden.
Mafia groups abroad branded the country a ‘haven’ for their activities, while organised crime groups have infiltrated business sectors and discovered ways to smuggle in military-grade weapons.
It comes as two British men were shot dead in a suspected ‘gangland hit’ in Sweden’s coastal city of Malmö last weekend before the car was set on fire – with police probing links between the deaths and gang violence in the country.
The driver and passenger were found in the gutted remains of a Toyota RAV4 that had been rented in Denmark and driven across the border to Sweden.
Their bodies were recovered after firefighters were called to the scene of a blaze on a dirt road in the Fosie industrial estate in Malmö on Sunday.
Göran Adamson, a political consultant and associate professor with a PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE), told MailOnline: ‘You can see a very close correlation between migration and increasing crime rates.
Two Brits were shot dead in a rented car and set on fire in Sweden last week after hiring the vehicle in Denmark. Images show forensics officers investigating the scene
A lorry is seen carrying the burnt out car, wrapped in a plastic sheet, away from the scene
Police officers in Malmo cordon off the scene at the Fosie industrial estate, where the car was discovered with two bodies inside
Officers can be seen moving plastic bags from inside the car at the scene
Backlash against immigration has in the past led to clashes between groups and police (pictured in 2022), who have been swamped with trying to crack down of rising levels of gang violence
Police vans on fire amid clashes between protesters and police in 2022
‘An area can be seemingly peaceful on the surface, but the reason can be that the tribe […] or gang has won. So the Swedish police of course have decided not to intervene.
‘Just the fact that an area is calm is not always reassuring.’
He added: ‘Sweden is changing rapidly and it’s not really feasible what’s going on.’
The country’s share of non-western population grew from 2 percent to 15 percent within the space of 20 years.
Mafia groups abroad called the country a ‘haven’ for their criminality, while organised crime groups found ways to sneak military-grade weapons into the country.
In September 2023 more than 40 violent episodes and 12 deaths were recorded in just 20 days – earning the moniker ‘Black September’.
In all of 2023, 53 people were killed in shootings across Sweden, which is home to around 10.5 million people. In 2022, that figure stood at 62 – and Stockholm’s per-capita murder rate was roughly 30 times that of London’s.
The killings have turned Sweden, seen for many years from the outside as a peaceful Scandinavian welfare state, into the European Union’s gun-homicide capital.
Gangsters carry out personal vendettas against each other – or hire youngsters to commit the crimes.
Almost half the suspects in the gun-related murders in 2022 were aged between 15 and 20 – youths who have been groomed by gangs that are largely run by second-generation immigrants.
Mr Adamson previously told MailOnline that there is a clear link between migration and the gang crime in Sweden.
Pointing to his 2020 study ‘Migrants and Crime in Sweden in the 21st Century’, he said someone with a migrant background can be two, three or even four times more likely to be involved with or a suspect in criminal activity than an average Swede.
‘When some people say there is no connection between migration and crime, they are not telling the truth,’ he said, adding: ‘The data from the crime prevention agency tells us this […] these are just the bare bones statistics.’
Smoke billows from burning tires, pallets and fireworks during clashes of police with few hundred protesters in the Rosengard neighbourhood of Malmo, Sweden, in August 2020
Police are seen at the scene of an explosion in Uppsala on September 28, 2023. The blast killed 24-year-old Soha Saad
He added: ‘In the suburbs, there is a lot of shooting and a lot of killing going on and it’s mostly gang related. I would say 99 percent gang related.
‘When someone is shot – if someone who is under 20 – is shot or two people are shot in a suburb of Stockholm, you can almost count on them being members of one gang who are killing members of another gang, but these are still young guys.’
The British citizens found dead in Sweden on Sunday are understood to have been shot before the car they were in was set on fire, local media reported.
As police begin their manhunt, pulling in several people for questioning, authorities fear that more violence could follow, according to local media, as they refuse to rule out a connection to gang violence.
Rickard Lundqvist, press spokesperson for police region South, on Sunday confirmed the probe.
Police confirmed they are now working with foreign police on the case.
They are now asking for tips about the burned out car as they try to piece together what happened.
‘We are interested in talking to people who have seen the car.
‘It’s about a black Danish-registered Toyota of model RAV4,’ said Kerstin Gossé, spokesperson for the Swedish Police Authority.
They are now asking anybody who saw the car between 11.30am and 2pm on Sunday, July 14 to get in touch.
‘We are working hard with various measures in this investigation to bring clarity to this,’ she said.
