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One of the places where criminal networks are said to use children in the sale of drugs is in Fittja in Botkyrka south of Stockholm, where I meet municipal policeman Martin Lazar in the square.
– Every day here on the site, there are maybe 10-20 children under 18 who are involved in different ways, the youngest I would say is 13-14 years old.
How do you see children and what do they do?
– They are part of the business in various ways linked to drug trafficking.
Ekot has interviewed the intelligence chiefs of the seven police regions of the country to get an idea of the recruitment of young people into criminal networks. There are no clear figures on how many children are involved, but in both Stockholm and Gothenburg it is claimed that there are hundreds of children who commit acts for criminal networks.
In all police regions, except in the north, intelligence chiefs claim that there are cases with children up to 12 years old, in some places even younger.
Palle Nilsson is the head of the intelligence section of the Stockholm police region.
– There is information about ten years and older, but it can be said that the number increases with age. It is very unusual with such young ages. The most common are probably between the ages of 16 and 18, he says.
Jan Hofvenstam is chief of intelligence in the Eastern Police Region,
– In our opinion, it has increased and decreased with age. We have seen 12-15 year olds commit crimes against criminal gangs. It may be that you transport things, packages that you do not know what they contain, even if they are drugs, or that you have to store different things or transport weapons. Also that you can start selling drugs, he says.
Four of the intelligence chiefs He says his image is that the recruitment of children has increased in recent years, as many have the perception is that the children who are recruited also get younger.
Jörgen Pettersson is the head of the intelligence section in the Mitt police region,
– We are receiving more and more information that young people help the most serious offenders with various tasks.
The municipal policeman Martin Lazar, whom I met in Fittja, describes it as the children who grow up in the networks and get more important tasks with age.
– At 15 you begin to receive more important assignments. But the recruitment starts earlier, they already start at 10-11 years to build relationships with these kids just to include them in the gang, he says.
