by Amina Kosovac
Stavanger Aftenblad (April 19th 2022): Cars are on fire at Rosengårdsskolen in Sweden.
The Swedish Minister of Justice has expressed his concerns for the safety and well-being of the Swedish people, after a growing wave of violence, that is connected to a gang riot in a criminal network Foxtrot occurred/spread through the country.
The network, led by Rawa Majid, also known as “The Kurdish Fox”, emerged at the end of 2010. On one side there is Majid who orchestrates everything from Turkey, and on the other side Ismail Abdo, who seemed to be one of Majid´s closest allies until recently. There seems to be some bad blood split between Abdo and Majid after a major drug deal went wrong.
The internal turmoil in Foxtrot has made the wave of violence even worse. This is happening while the Foxtrot network has been challenged by the Dalen network about control of drug markets, in other places like Stockholm, Uppsala, and Sundsvall. Multiple gangs have joined forces to stop this war and minimize Majid´s recruitment of young criminals. The Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, from the conservative party Modertarna, has promised tougher measures on both immigration and criminal policy.
Politicians and researchers stated that the reason why the criminal network had been expanding was the poor integration of newly arrived immigrants into Swedish culture . Cities like Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö have high immigrant and unemployment density In addition, Sweden has fewer language requirements to obtain a residence permit, compared to the neighbouring Nordic countries.
Even though Sweden is facing a lot of issues now, the government that was elected a year ago has shown initiative to tackle the crime. They have promised stricter penalties and more surveillance. They are also pushing for increased investment in social services and the school system. However, there is still a long way to go and it will take some time for the situation to resolve.
NRK (September 10th 2022): Riots breaking out in Sweden amongst gang movements.