The police in Stockholm have identified eight criminal networks in the region that are judged to be the most violent.
Since the turn of the year, the police have worked focused on these networks, and now they have arrested about a hundred people who can be connected to the networks.
In several cases, they are people who are described as leaders, says Robert Karlsson, deputy chief of the Stockholm police region.
– Stockholm is in a powerful operational phase now, where we are very offensive against the most serious criminals we have in the Stockholm area, those who drive violence. We decided to go towards eight networks at the beginning of the year, and right now we have about a hundred detainees in those networks.
It’s about, among other things about criminal networks in Husby, Rinkeby, Vårby, Södertälje and Märsta.
– Through our systems, we have developed the most violent networks, and the most violent individuals. We have approached them, and they are the ones we see that we are now making holes in, and that their leadership figures and those closest to them are with us, says Robert Karlsson.
In recent weeks, there have been a number of attacks in the Stockholm area that are connected to one of these networks. In other cases, it has been some time since the persons were arrested and a legal process is now underway. The suspicions include extremely serious drug offenses and murder.
– They are in custody for several crimes. Then, of course, we want to get them convicted of the most serious crime and when it comes to these people, it is the case that the longer they are in prison, the calmer it will be in Stockholm, says Robert Karlsson.
At the same time, the number shootings in Stockholm increased during the year, and the police’s efforts with arrests and seizures can contribute to increased violence for some time, says Robert Karlsson, deputy regional manager in the Stockholm Region.
– Someone will pay for the drugs that the police took, someone will pay for the weapons. When we take leaders, it is others who aspire to be managers in the organizations, so new debts and tensions arise when the police are so offensive, and that is part of the explanation why we have more shootings in Stockholm now than before.