Published 27 September 2024 at 14.01
Domestic. The criminal gangs in Sweden continue to expand their operations to our neighboring countries. Now the gangs have also started operating in Iceland, announced the country's Minister of Justice Guðrún Hafsteinsdóttir.
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The statement came after a meeting between the Nordic justice ministers in Sweden. Guðrún Hafsteinsdóttir expressed concern about an increase in knife-related crimes in Iceland, linking some of these incidents to Swedish gangs.
She pointed in particular to an incident from last August where a car belonging to a police officer was set on fire outside the police station Home. The attack is said to have been carried out by people who acted on the orders of a criminal network in Sweden.
— We have confirmed information about a group of people who came here for this purpose, Runólfur Thórhallsson at the Icelandic police's analysis unit told the newspaper Morgunbladid.
Icelandic authorities suspect that the crime was coordinated via the internet by a criminal network in the immigrant ghetto Kronogården in Trollhättan in Sweden.
During the ministerial meeting, Denmark's Minister of Justice Peter Hummelgard emphasized that more and more criminal networks operate via digital platforms, which facilitate cross-border crime.
Iceland is now planning to tighten border controls and increase police resources to deal with the growing threat.
The ministers also discussed the exploitation of minors in criminal activities, a problem that is increasing throughout the Nordic region and spreading from Sweden. In Iceland, so-called refugee children in particular have been used for theft, while more serious crimes linked to minors have been observed in Sweden and Denmark.
The rising crime rate in the region has raised fears that the violent gang wars plaguing neighboring countries may soon also spread to Iceland.