Danish justice minister denounces gangs who hire teenage Swedes to kill in Denmark

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard on Monday denounced organized criminal gangs who hire Swedish teenagers to carry out deadly shootings in Denmark, saying it ''reflects a totally sick, depraved culture of violence.''

Hummelgaard said that since April there have been 25 episodes where young Swedes have been hired by Danes to commit crimes in Denmark.

Hummelgaard was reacting after broadcaster TV2 showed him a printout from an encrypted Swedish chat that said hitmen were sought to shoot named people in Denmark, together with a price list ranging from 300,000 to 500,000 kronor ($28,500 to $47,500).

''It's terrifying in every way and it makes me angry. Really, really angry,'' Hummelgaard said, adding he would ''put pressure on Sweden so that they also take responsibility for these things.''

Sweden has grappled with gang violence for years, while in Denmark, police have also seen violence between gangs but on a lesser scale.

Last year, Swedish police noted an increase in the number of teenagers under 18 who were recruited to carry out hits because they do not face the same police controls as adults and are often shielded from prosecution.

Hummelgaard met Monday with the head of Denmark's national police, Thorkild Fogde. They discussed ways to tackle the issue, including introducing facial recognition technology and software to access encrypted messages.

Hummelgaard called facial recognition technology ''a very, very good idea'' but said that the law needed to be changed to permit it. He said that would be done as soon as possible.

One of the main criminal gangs in Denmark is Loyal to Familia which was banned in 2021. Danish police say it is feuding with an unnamed gang.

''Their members are probably the ones who are stopped and searched most often by the police,'' sociologist Aydin Soei told Danish broadcaster DR last week after two Swedish teenagers — aged 17 and 16 — were held in pre-trial detention for shootings in Kolding, western Denmark, and in Copenhagen respectively.

''It is convenient (for them) to be able to use Swedish children as cannon fodder, unfortunately,'' Soei said.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that it was ''an eerie example that cynical criminals hire Swedish youths to commit crimes in Denmark. We will not accept that.''

In 2022, Sweden saw figures for gang-related shootings skyrocketing to 391, with 62 deaths, according to official police statistics, though the number has fallen somewhat since, with 164 shootings and 22 deaths recorded in the first seven months of this year.

In Denmark, some 1,257 people were known to authorities for having connections to organized crime at the end of last year, according to official figures. Most of the violence in Denmark takes place in Copenhagen and its suburbs.