Anders Stensson wants to leave Bridge Network: it’s a pittance

“I’ve been to ten funerals but not a single wedding”

Of: Jon Forsling

Published: January 24, 2021 at 07:40
Updated: January 24, 2021 at 08.13

As the leader of the infamous Bridge Network on Upplands-Bro, he has been in and out of prison in recent years.

Now 32-year-old Anders Stensson has had enough, and in an exclusive interview with Aftonbladet, he tells why he intends to leave the brutal gang life:

– There is nothing good to achieve. It is misery, it is drugs, it is violence, it is prison. There are divided families and divided relationships, he says.

676 people in 30 criminal networks.

Earlier this fall, Aftonbladet was able to reveal the secret police investigation into the gangs that control Greater Stockholm. It was an occasional nightmare reading about a rampant spiral of violence in the Swedish capital, where gang crime is the main reason why the number of shootings increased by nearly 80 percent, from 87 to 156, in 2020.

One of the gangs Aftonbladet examined is Bronätverket, a criminal group that has been terrorizing Upplands-Bro, north of Stockholm, for several years. The gang was described as a hand grenade attack on a family with young children in June last year, and has also been linked to a high-profile shooting when two men were found dead 100 meters away near a preschool in February 2019.

The members of the 30 gangs that the police have mapped in and around Stockholm all have one thing in common: they are shady and prefer not to be seen in the media with their name and photo. But now Anders Stensson, 32, is sitting across from me on a sofa in a hotel room in central Stockholm. You have voluntarily contacted Aftonbladet and wanted to do an interview for one reason only. He has decided to leave the life of criminal gangs behind.

– I do this interview to get a full chapter. Leave the previous life that I have lived. I’ve been criminally active for 22 years, but now that’s enough, he says.

– I have also wanted to do this before, but did not know where to turn and did not receive any help. I didn’t have the tools. Now I have people around me who believe in me. That is why I choose to step forward. And I want to show that it is possible to go out.

The Anders Stensson story is the story of a Swedish rule of law that is losing the battle against ever-increasing gang crime. And about a parallel Sweden, where poor children grow up with no prospects for the future and learn early to turn their backs on society:

– Where I grew up, in Upplands-Bro, you learn to hate the police for what you are a meter tall. You know that the police are keeping quiet, you know that society is your enemy. You bond with your friends and you are loyal to them. The Bridge Network, we are friends and brothers who have grown up together. We have taken care of each other, I have been there for the little ones and the older ones have been there for me, he says.

– I grew up with my mother and my little sister in difficult economic conditions. I bought my shoes at a flea market for ten crowns, I bought my pants at UFF. I wanted to be like others. And what was required for that? Good economy. When I was ten years old, I got stuck for the first time because I stole clothes and perfume. It was an easy thing to sell. My friends and I admired some older guys who were involved in serious crimes. This is how I started my criminal behavior, Anders continues.

Anders Stensson’s status in what the police call the Bridge Network grew every year. In 2014, he was sentenced to one year in prison for, among other things, attempted fraud and aggravated crime with weapons. Three years later, he was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison for, among other things, robbery, fraud, violations of the knife law, doping offenses and violations of the gun law.

As soon as he murmured, he returned to his friends in Bro, and soon became guilty of new and serious crimes:

– I was away for four months and ten days once. Before that it was five days and two days. That was the case, in and out, all the time, he says.

In March 2020, police found small amounts of cocaine and amphetamines, as well as more than SEK 80,000 in cash and a loaded Zastawa brand pistol during the search for a member of Anders Stensson’s family. In district court, the prosecutor demanded two years and seven months in prison, but the following month he was sentenced to a one-year contract for gun and drug misdemeanors. The verdict was appealed to the Court of Appeal, but the prosecutor later decided to withdraw his appeal.

“It is (…) clarified by the personal circumstances of Anders Stensson that he has a destructive and criminal life, from which in the main audience he expressed a strong desire to get away”, says read in the latest ruling of the District Court of Attunda.

There are several reasons why you want to leave gang life, Anders says. On the one hand, she wants to reconnect with her son, who is now five years old:

– I’ve missed all but one of his birthdays. I remember when he was born, when I was in the hospital and I cut my umbilical cord. Right after that, I left and committed a serious crime. The only focus I had at the time was making money and being loyal to my friends, he says.

– If someone hurt my family, “yep” them. What does “yes” mean? It goes something like this (make a beheading gesture with your hand). But at the same time, I already hurt my family. I’ve been in prison so many times, I haven’t been there. I have not been present once I have been there.

Another reason is that you have felt mentally ill. Partly from the realization that he’s hurt so many people, partly from the constant stress and anxiety that comes from being the leader of a criminal ring. He says that he himself was shot and that a friend of his was killed a few weeks ago:

– They shot him in the back. He was only 25 years old, he came from a beautiful family. May he rest in peace. This life is anything but glamorous. You feel anything but good. When you start to build your identity, violence goes hand in hand. The more serious the violence, the better it will be for you. You hurt so many people and you take out your family and your children. But you don’t know anything else, he says.

– For every 100,000 SEK you win, you are guaranteed ten problems behind. Ten problems that can lead to conflicts so serious that there are deaths. There is nothing good to gain. It is misery, it is drugs, it is violence, it is prison. These are divided families and broken relationships.

Today, Anders Stensson lives with his fiancee and is an extra father to their two children. She will soon be leaving Bro to move to Stockholm, and has started a collaboration with the Educational Activities of the Sobriety Movement, NBV North:

– I will give a lecture about my experiences. As it is crown at the moment, I will record digital conferences that you can buy. I recorded my first show the day before yesterday. Then, in the long run, I will give lectures in schools, for example, and meet young people. I know many who are in various criminal networks right now and who want a way out. But they don’t know where to turn.

At the same time, in April last year, he was convicted of a firearms crime. Why should we trust that you are no longer a danger to society?

– I let the documents bring an action. Why am I doing this with lectures? Here and now I could commit criminal acts, but I have chosen to renounce everything that is called crime. If people don’t believe in me, I’ll let time go by.

Are you afraid of retaliation for choosing to speak with us?

– No. I’ve decided to quit smoking and my friends know it. I have great love for them.

Have you tried to persuade some of them to join you and live up to the law?

– Right now I am completely focused on myself and my family. You can never love someone if you can’t love yourself. I want to be able to be there for my family, my son and my stepdaughters, and maybe also be able to help others. But then I have to rebuild myself first.

Anders Stensson is silent for a while. Then the former Bridge Network leader sums up everything he lost during his years in one of Sweden’s most infamous gangs:

– I have been to ten funerals where those who died were under 30 years old. But I haven’t been to a single wedding.

Published: January 24, 2021 at 07:40

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