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The National Police Commissioner was summoned to the Riksdag’s Justice Committee to inform politicians about family-based criminal networks, or so-called criminal clans.
Thornberg noted, among other things, the risk that municipal decision makers are exposed to threats or other influence from these networks.
“Unfortunately, it’s becoming more and more common to threaten,” says Thornberg.
For example, public officials who make decisions about grants, building permits, and the care of disadvantaged children are exposed.
“Very rude”
– I think that in the municipalities it is usually very hard, because you often approach people and make decisions that affect them in everyday life, says Thornberg.
– And maybe you know those you make decisions about when you go shopping, in the library or in the pool.
Thornberg emphasizes the importance of municipalities having a security organization that can conduct a security analysis and identify which employees are most at risk of being exposed to pressure. But it’s also about being able to provide protection when needed.
– In the worst case, when threatened with death, you may need temporary protection from bodyguards or transfer or have a protected identity.
Thornberg also believes that vulnerable decision makers should be covered by special legislation that provides them with sufficient protection to dare to practice their profession.
More resources
Systematic grant violations were also raised at the committee meeting. Thornberg says it is important for politicians and authorities to ensure that grant and financial aid payments are correct from the start and that they “control a little more.”
– Even if crimes committed later can be investigated, the money will not come back, he says.
According to the chairman of the Justice Committee, Fredrik Lundh Sammeli (S), the head of the National Police pointed out that some of the various crown subsidies to companies end up in the pockets of organized crime.
– Much of the business support and quick and simple money that politics wants to give to face the pandemic turns into a stew of meat that serious organized crime looks for, says Sammeli.
The Chief of the National Police also reiterated his message to politicians about the need for social initiatives to prevent more young people from being recruited into gangs, such as more resources for school and social services.
Thornberg also stressed that the entire legal chain must have resources so that it “is connected.”
Has reported
The problem of family-based criminal networks or criminal clans received a lot of attention after Ekot’s interview with National Police Deputy Chief Mats Löfving in early September on Saturday.
Löfving later said that some 40 family-based criminal networks operate in Sweden. When asked when the police or Säpo informed the government about the networks, Thornberg responds:
– We have continuously reported over the years. There are already reports from 2014. There are a couple from 2017 and from 2018 and 2019. We have informed the two transparency boards and submitted reports.
According to Thornberg, it is the loosely composed networks that are the biggest problem now, not the criminal clans.
– But it is a long-term problem, which can endanger the system, he says.
The spokesman for legal policy of the moderates, Johan Forssell, was satisfied with the information that the commission received from the head of the National Police.
– It was simple language. He used words like “this is very serious,” says Forssell.
– We’re talking about the mafia here.
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