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Of: TT
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Photo: Stina Stjernkvist / TT
Linda H Staaf, head of the intelligence unit of the national police operational department. Stock Photography.
Family criminal networks, so-called clans, are nothing new in Sweden, but it is a form of organized crime that is getting stronger, according to Linda H Staaf de Noa.
The problem with family-based criminal networks is “a threat to the system” and, according to Linda H Staaf, head of the intelligence unit of the national police operational department, something that has grown stronger over the years . In addition to classic criminal organizations, such as motorcycle gangs, and loosely composed networks that are often based in socially vulnerable areas, family networks, as Staaf calls them, constitute the third core of organized crime in Sweden.
– You can distinguish them from socially vulnerable areas that often merge, and these different types of networks often cooperate, but when it comes to family networks, it is not really about socio-economic issues, but rather about a cultural factor. There is nothing we can educate, says Linda H Staaf.
Money and power
TT: What do you mean by cultural?
– Actually, we are talking about a fairly classic organized crime. Where you build a family-based criminal network to earn money. Economic gain but also power is considered important, as in any other type of organized crime. Therefore, it is not only linked to vulnerable areas.
Family-based criminal networks also differ, according to Linda H Staaf, in that parallel social and legal systems are often built, and that people with network connections can end up in positions of power in society.
Infiltration
– It is very important that we open our eyes. That we open our eyes to enablers in established legal activities, in the municipal administration, in other authorities, in the business world, where we must be attentive to this type of infiltration that actually occurs.
Deputy Chief of Police Mats Löfvings said in Ekot’s interview on Saturday that there are at least 40 family crime networks in Sweden. Linda H Staaf doesn’t want to go into detail, but says the phenomenon also extends beyond metropolitan regions.
– We from the police intelligence service mapped this out, and there are several examples. About 40 means that it is quite widespread throughout Sweden.
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