We are in the middle of a huge (for us) string of gang bombings, more than 30 just in January 2025, many of them here in Stockholm.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219971993
What's behind the latest spate of bombings in Sweden?
The police are calling it an 'escalation of violence', Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson a 'national crisis', and Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has admitted that the government is not in control. But why has Sweden seen a record number of bombings in January?
https://www.thelocal.se/20250131/whats-behind-the-latest-spate-of-bombings-in-sweden
https://archive.ph/FeJsG
Police at the site of an explosion in Nacka on January 26th. Photo: Oscar Olsson/TT
Sweden has seen more than 30 bombings in the month of January – an average of more than one per day. Although the majority of them have taken place in southern Stockholm, cases have also been reported in other parts of the country. But what’s behind them?
'Clear' connection to gangs
Deputy police chief for Stockholm Tobias Bergkvist told a press conference at the end of January that the connection to gangs is “very clear”. “All of these crimes are committed in that context,” he added. He was joined at the press conference by Hampus Nygårds, the deputy head of the police’s National Operative Department Noa. “What we’re seeing now is an escalation of violence, but also the problem is changing,” he said. “The majority of the explosions we’ve seen in December and January have an economic motive, they’re strategic acts aimed at companies, often used as blackmail or extortion.”
The Local spoke to Manne Gerell, associate professor of criminology at Malmö University, who explained that there are usually two deciding factors in the number of bomb attacks. “One is the amount of conflicts and the intensity of conflicts in the criminal environment, and the second is the extent to which the actors involved in those conflicts have access to or knowledge of using bombs as a tool,” he said. “Those things fluctuate, some criminal networks or actors are more used to using explosives than others, and some conflicts are more violent than others. And both those factors can be partial explanations now.”
Gerell echoed Nygårds’ statement that the nature of the problem has changed. “It’s not really a conflict within a criminal environment, but rather an example of extortion against businesses.” The aim of these attacks is often to pressure a business owner into paying up in order to stop the threats against them.
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