Although gang-related violence has long plagued Sweden, police are now warning that explosions are increasingly being used for financial extortion, signalling a dangerous shift in criminal tactics.

In Sweden, mafia gangs carry out multiple explosions every day, with authorities having registered 31 blasts so far in 2025.

There’s been 31 bombings in Sweden this month.

We have almost 60 no-go zones.

Malmö is ranked as dangerous as Baghdad.

Mainstream media isn’t telling you this.

— PeterSweden (@PeterSweden7) January 29, 2025

Tobias Bergkvist, deputy regional police chief in Stockholm, described the situation as „very serious” and revealed that in the past month alone, there have been 21 explosions in the capital. Police have arrested 50 people in connection with 25 different cases, including bomb makers, perpetrators, and gang leaders operating from abroad. Despite this, the violence continues unchecked.

According to Hampus Nygards, deputy director of the National Operations Department (NOA), Swedish gangs do not produce their own explosives. Instead, a small but highly active group of bomb makers supplies criminal organisations, making it more difficult to eliminate the problem.

„We have taken several bomb makers off the streets, but the violence hasn’t decreased. These individuals sell explosives, and once they are in circulation, they are difficult to track,”

– Mr. Nygards explained. Previously, gang violence in Sweden was primarily linked to conflicts between groups, largely dominated by migrants, over territorial disputes and drug wars. However, police are now increasingly being called to explosions targeting businesses for extortion purposes, indicating a shift in organized crime towards financial racketeering.

In response to the escalating crisis, Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer has convened an emergency meeting of the Council Against Organised Crime on Thursday to discuss further measures to curb the violence. One proposal under consideration is lowering Sweden’s age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 14 years.

Sweden ranks second in the world – among countries not at war – for the highest number of explosive attacks, surpassed only by Mexico. This was highlighted by Ardavan Khoshnood, a visiting lecturer at Malmo University and senior researcher at Lund University.

– Mr. Khoshnood told the daily Svenska Dagbladet newspaper, as cited by our news agency. Before the 2000s, explosions were virtually unheard of in Sweden. The sharp rise in such crimes began in the 2010s, correlating with mass immigration and the gang wars it has triggered.