A Swedish teenager has been charged with organising a number of contract killings while in Australia.
The 15-year-old has been accused of using encrypted communication apps to help plan contract killings in Sweden and Denmark on behalf of a transnational criminal syndicate.
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The Danish National Special Crime Unit says while the boy is suspected of attempting “to recruit people to commit contract killings in Denmark and Sweden as part of ongoing gang conflicts”
The teenager has been charged with offences linked to using a device with intention to commit a serious offence like conspiracy to murder and murder, with both offences carrying a possible life sentence.
He was arrested on the morning of April 16 after investigators executed a search warrant at a home in Western Sydney. He appeared before Surry Hills Children’s Court and was formally refused bail.
This comes after Sweden has been struggling to tackle gang-related crime in the country, which has led to a number of shootings and even bombings linked to rival gangs.
The perpetrators are often young teens who are hired as contract killers because they are under 15, the age of criminal responsibility in Sweden.
AFP Commander Brett James said, “The AFP regularly works with foreign policing partners, such as the Danish Police, and the identification of these alleged international criminal links is a testament to the enduring partnership and collaboration between our agencies”.
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