Sixty people have been shot dead in Sweden this year, a record number in the country’s modern history, Reuters reported on Monday, citing government data.
Sweden has seen a spate of shootings in recent years, with police and authorities blaming criminal gangs that roam large cities such as the capital Stockholm.
– Gun violence has increased and has unfortunately reached a new bloody record this year, says Minister of Justice Gunnar Strmmer to the media.
He said there have been 60 fatal shootings in Sweden this year, compared to four in Norway and Denmark and two in Finland. The deaths are just the tip of the iceberg of violence and organized crime entrenched in parts of society, Stroemer said.
Last year, 45 people were shot in Sweden. In 2012, the number was 17, according to data from the Crime Prevention Council.
Strmmer said the government would create a special council in the Ministry of Justice to coordinate the fight against organized crime.
“A decent society cannot accept someone being shot on the street every week,” Strmmer said.
In the last twenty years, Sweden has gone from having one of the lowest rates of gang violence to one of the highest rates, according to the Crime Prevention Council.
Among the previous Social Democratic government’s measures against organized crime were strengthening the under-resourced police force and introducing tougher penalties for crimes committed with firearms.
But the failed attempt to reverse the crime trend was one of the main reasons why the Social Democrats lost the election in September to a right-wing coalition that promised even tougher measures.
The current government wants to increase the powers of the police, double the penalties for organized crime and increase the authorities’ ability to snoop on criminals. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the measures were part of the authorities’ strongest attempt to fight organized crime in modern Swedish history.
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