"Everyone wants to be a murderer" How underage contract killers are keeping Sweden on its toes

They are still children - but they thirst for corpses and crime: Rampant gang crime is increasingly becoming a problem for the Swedish justice system. And the perpetrators are getting younger and younger.

"Bro, I can't wait to see my first body." This sentence was written by an eleven-year-old on Instagram. The boy is one of many victims of criminal gangs in Sweden. They use chat apps to recruit children for contract killings who are not yet prosecuted because of their age. "Stay motivated, you'll get there," a 19-year-old gang member replied to the boy.

In December last year, he offered the child 150,000 crowns (12,100 francs) for a murder, plus clothes and transportation to the crime scene. This is according to the investigation files of the police in the western province of Värmland, which the AFP news agency was able to view.

In this case, four men aged between 18 and 20 are accused of recruiting four minors aged between 11 and 17 to work for a criminal gang. All were arrested before the crimes could be committed.

Gangs recruit via Telegram, Snapchat or Signal

The investigation files contain photos that the young people sent to each other. They pose with weapons, some of them bare-chested. He wanted to appear "cool" and "not show his fear", said the eleven-year-old during questioning.

There are many cases like this in Sweden. The country has been confronted with rampant gang crime for years: The gangs fight for control of the drug market, they engage in shootouts and carry out attacks with homemade explosive devices. In 2023, 53 people died in shootouts, including bystanders.

The gangs are organized in a complex way: The gang leaders operate from abroad via middlemen who then use encrypted messaging services such as Telegram, Snapchat or Signal to recruit children and young people under the age of 15 who have not yet reached the age of criminal responsibility.

"It's organized like a kind of market where orders are published in discussion forums, and the people who accept the orders are getting younger and younger," Johan Olsson, head of the national police, told journalists in October.

"Crimefluencers" are active on TikTok

There are also "crimefluencers" on TikTok who not only flaunt their criminal life, but also establish contact between clients and hitmen, says Sven Granath, Professor of Criminology at Stockholm University. Sometimes even children in the neighborhood are approached directly by gang members.

According to the public prosecutor's office, the number of murders in Sweden in which a suspect was under the age of 15 rose dramatically compared to the previous year: in 2023, there were 31 cases in the first eight months of the year and 102 in the same period in 2024.

The children recruited often have difficulties at school, attention disorders, addiction problems or have already come into conflict with the law, says the criminologist. "They are recruited as mercenaries in conflicts to which they have no connection."

Police officer sounds the alarm: "It's incredibly sad to see"

According to a report by the National Council for Crime Prevention, some children even choose the jobs themselves because they are looking for money, an adrenaline rush, recognition or a sense of belonging. "Nowadays, everyone wants to be a murderer," says Viktor Grewe. The 25-year-old used to belong to a gang himself. He first came into contact with the police when he was 13.

"It's incredibly sad to see what these kids are striving for." Tony Quiroga, a police officer in Örebro, 200 kilometers west of Stockholm, speaks of an "unscrupulous exploitation of young people who are just starting out in life". The gang leaders and middlemen "don't want to take any risks themselves", he says. "They hide behind pseudonyms in social networks and set up several filters between themselves and the young hitmen."

In Örebro, volunteers canvass the streets of disadvantaged neighborhoods in the evenings and warn young people of the danger of falling into the gangs' clutches. These young people don't believe in a future for themselves, says Grewe, who managed to get out of crime at the age of 22. They are convinced that they won't live past the age of 25.