Overview

• Stockholm prosecutor Ida Arnell described a case of a 15-year-old recruited to shoot a man in the head, with a 17-year-old accomplice firing shots that left the victim critically wounded.
• Prosecutors and police say girls now market themselves for violent assignments on encrypted platforms that also host posted contracts for shootings and bombings.
• Authorities recorded about 280 girls aged 15–17 charged with murder, manslaughter or other violent offenses last year, though links to organised crime remain unclear.
• Police report gang leaders increasingly direct operations from outside Sweden and outsource attacks through intermediaries, often recruiting youths below the age of criminal responsibility.
• The government classifies these networks as a systemic threat and has commissioned an in-depth study due in October, as advocacy groups cite addiction, trauma and widespread sexual violence among involved girls.