Swedish gangs have begun recruiting new members, eyeing teenage girls as the ideal candidates to carry out contract killings and handle explosive materials, according to investigations carried out by multiple international media agencies this month.
Hoping to evade authorities, gang members have begun grooming girls on social media as young as 15 to carry out criminal activities. Some 280 girls aged between 15 and 17 were charged with murder, manslaughter, or other violent crimes last year, and authorities are working to lower the age of criminal culpability to 13.
The young women are less likely to be suspects when buying and storing firebomb materials than men, according to The Telegraph, one of several news agencies investigating the new phenomenon.
Beyond the gender stereotype, one expert who has interviewed numerous teenage members of the gangs told the British newspaper that racial dynamics often played a role. Gangs were increasingly looking for “young, blonde, typical” Swedish girls to carry out attacks.
Previously, gang handlers would look to groom impoverished, vulnerable boys, many of whom had some form of mental disability, for the activities - relying on the ease of manipulating the social group as a major component of the grooming process.
"Girls are often identified as victims ... but their participation in criminal circles is much more widespread than what we have long assumed," Sweden's Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer said, according to CBS News. "Preconceived notions about the role of women and girls in crime present the risk that they are seen neither as criminals nor as people in need of help."
Sweden's Green Ladies
Lisa dos Santos, a Swedish prosecutor who has handled child gang cases, said, “They [the gangs] call them Green Ladies, green as in newbies, because the police initially didn’t look at them in the same way as the men,” she said.
“The police are now aware that girls are taking part, but I think it’s still easier for them to fly under the radar.”
The girls, according to The Telegraph’s investigation, take on larger, higher-risk jobs to vie for the senior positions in the gang.
However, not every girl recruited is looking for seniority, as many are reportedly motivated by financial factors and are seeking to treat themselves to luxury items with the blood money. Some reports indicate gangs will pay as much as 150,000 kroner (approximately NIS 50,000) for a single assassination.
“I think they share this fascination for an exclusive lifestyle, expensive jewelry, bags, clothes, you know,” said Dos Santos. “We’ve seen a pattern where after taking part in this type of crime, they go shopping.”
Reviewing messages from Olivia, a 17-year-old girl caught on CCTV handling napalm for an arson attack on a rival gang member’s home, The Telegraph revealed time-pressured messages and the repeated mention of cash.
Olivia was instructed on what ingredients to buy and hand over to her male colleagues for the attack. She was later found guilty of aiding and abetting arson and sentenced to a year's imprisonment.
While Olivia lives in Sweden, the report suggested she was recruited by criminals living overseas. Previous reports have highlighted the role of Iran in local gangs, noting how the Islamic Regime has repeatedly hired teenage members of the gang Foxtrot for attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets.
Stockholm prosecutor Ida Arnell told AFP she had a case “involving a 15-year-old girl recruited to shoot someone in the head…She was able to choose the type of mission she wanted, in other words, to aim at the guy's door or his head. She chose the head.”
The teenage girl was arrested alongside a 17-year-old male accomplice. Girls"have to show that they are even more determined and tougher (than boys) to get the job," the prosecutor explained.