How Sweden’s Multicultural Dream Turned to a Nightmare of Gangs Violence, and Child Soldiers

[Social Media]

 

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How Sweden’s Multicultural Dream Turned Into a Nightmare of Gangs, Violence, and Child Soldiers

 

Once admired across Europe for its peaceful society and progressive ideals, Sweden now finds itself grappling with a grim reality: gangland killings, hired assassins, and the use of children as “soldiers” in an increasingly brutal criminal underworld.

 

 

To illustrate the severity of the crisis, investigative journalist Diamant Salihu needs only to share a few disturbing phone messages. These aren’t ordinary spam texts. They’re what have become known as “murder ads”—messages festooned with skulls and pistol emojis offering cash rewards to anyone willing to carry out contract killings. “All types of jobs are available,” one reads, luring potential killers with the promise of up to one million Swedish krona (about £78,000). Another adds chillingly: “Age doesn’t matter.”

 

 

That detail is key. Sweden’s child assassins are becoming a horrifying norm. Under Swedish law, children under 15 are too young to be prosecuted, which has led gangs to recruit minors with alarming frequency. “We have so many child soldiers that nobody can count anymore,” says Salihu, an investigative journalist at SVT, Sweden’s public broadcaster. “There are kids as young as 13 being arrested.”

 

 

It is no exaggeration to say that barely a week goes by in Sweden without another teenager arrested for attempted murder or a hit job gone wrong. For Salihu, a former tabloid reporter with the calm demeanour of a detective in a Nordic noir novel, the story has become a personal crusade. But unlike fiction, the violence in Sweden has no neat resolution, no clear villain. It’s a mystery rooted in decades of political choices, social challenges, and shifting demographics.

 

Over the past ten years, Salihu has chronicled Sweden’s descent into gang warfare in two best-selling books. His first, Until Everyone Dies, examined the bloody feud between two Somali gangs that left nine young men dead. His latest, When Nobody’s Listening, delves into the encrypted world of organised crime, following the revelations unlocked when European authorities cracked Encrochat, the preferred mobile network of criminals across the continent.

 

The book, newly released in English, expands on Salihu’s exploration of a nation in crisis. Himself a migrant of Kosovan heritage, Salihu knows both the promise and pitfalls of Sweden’s long-standing commitment to multiculturalism. He spent part of his early career in London, reporting for Expressen during the aftermath of the 2011 riots. When similar unrest broke out in Swedish cities just two years later, he began to see troubling patterns.

 

“In the Swedish areas that have social problems, I didn’t see the same bad standard of housing and class differences that I saw in the UK,” he says. “So why, when we in Sweden have a generally better standard of living, do we have this escalation of violence?”

 

It’s a question many Swedes are now asking. In 2022 alone, Sweden recorded 62 fatal shootings—twice the number seen in England and Wales, which has six times the population. Only Albania had a higher rate of gun deaths per capita in Europe that year.

 

The perpetrators are no longer just motorcycle gangs or fringe thugs. Today’s violence is largely driven by ethnically based organised crime groups, including the Foxtrot network—an outfit run by Kurdish criminals that looms large in Salihu’s latest reporting. Foxtrot, though heavily involved in drug trafficking, operates more like a chaotic patchwork of freelancers. It was this gang that pioneered Sweden’s online murder ad system, equipping teenagers with guns and grenades, often on loan, in exchange for deadly favours.

 

With even small towns now witnessing shootings and bombings, law enforcement struggles to keep up. Meanwhile, gang leaders are idolised on social media, their exploits glamorised by rappers and so-called “gangfluencers”—a word that entered the Swedish lexicon in 2021.

As Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson grimly put it: “Sweden has never seen anything like it before.”

 

Even native-born Swedish youths are now taking part. “We also now see Swedish kids involved—some from broken backgrounds, but some whose parents are successful,” Salihu says. “All they’ve maybe done before is steal something or play truant. Now they’re getting involved in murder.”

One especially chilling example emerged late last year when a 14-year-old was filmed committing a gang hit. Armed with a Kalashnikov, the child was captured on camera firing at the door of a residential building, reportedly to provide proof of the killing.

 

So how did it come to this? According to Salihu, part of the answer lies in social disconnection. Though Sweden has long invested in integration programmes, trying to prevent “parallel societies,” those very divisions have nonetheless taken root.

 

Born on a farm in Kosovo, Salihu’s early life was modest. “We had a horse and cart, like in the Borat movies,” he recalls. His family fled the country in 1998 ahead of the war with Serbia, resettling in a Swedish town. His mother, he remembers, collapsed in grief upon learning her brother had been killed in the war.

 

At school, he encountered a Sweden full of promise. About 20 per cent of his classmates were fellow migrants, but many others came from well-off Swedish families. “That makes it harder for them to learn Swedish properly, and they won’t see what I saw as a child. Society has become much more segregated,” he says. “Swedes welcome people from every corner of the world, but don’t actually want to live with them as neighbours.”

 

But he doesn’t place all the blame on racism. In his book, Salihu highlights communities where single mothers are left to raise large families alone.

 

Still, many of the gang members he interviews “actively choose their lifestyle,” he says. “They’ve had all the opportunities, with siblings who’ve graduated and got good jobs, yet still they’ve chosen the bad path.”

 

It’s a path paved with violence. Murderers are often instructed via smartphone livestreams, sometimes told to record their actions. In December, one assassin even used a GoPro to film himself killing rapper Ninos Khouri in a Stockholm car park.

 

Salihu’s work has made him a target. When Mustapha al-Jubouri, a former Foxtrot member, posted a video from Iraq declaring he had faked his own death—brandishing a gold Kalashnikov for effect—his followers launched a campaign against Salihu via Instagram. “It was being watched by 20,000 people,” he says. “How could Instagram not do something about that, knowing what kind of people are involved, inciting murder and threatening journalists?”

 

The violence has also spilled across borders. In the UK, Swedish gang connections have surfaced in high-profile killings. In 2022, Tunisian kickboxer Anis Hemissi was convicted of murdering Swedish-Albanian crime boss Flamur Beqiri in London. Last year, Swedish police began hunting a gangster accused of killing two British businessmen, Juan Cifuentes and Farooq Abdulrazak, in Malmö.

 

Some gang leaders operate from abroad, shielded by foreign passports. Al-Jubouri remains in Iraq, while Foxtrot boss Rawa “The Fox” Majid lives in Turkey, having obtained citizenship there to avoid extradition. He is believed to have fled to Iran last year after escalating conflicts.

 

Majid’s influence is even attracting geopolitical scrutiny. A year ago, Swedish officials accused Iran of enlisting local gang members for attacks on Israeli interests in Europe, including a grenade found near Israel’s embassy in Stockholm. In response, the U.S. sanctioned Foxtrot, citing Majid’s direct cooperation with Tehran.

 

The Swedish government is scrambling to respond. Juvenile sentencing has been toughened, and thanks to the Encrochat hack, about 400 gang members have been jailed. Politicians now want tighter regulation of social media to curb the spread of murder ads—something Salihu believes is a growing danger far beyond Sweden.

 

“You too may end up with British child soldiers, just as we are facing this crisis in Sweden,” he warns. Though UK gun laws are stricter, knife crime is rampant. In the year leading up to March 2024, 57 people under 25 were stabbed to death, including 17 children under 16.

 

Despite a recent dip in Sweden’s gun homicides—from 62 in 2022 to 45 last year—Salihu sees no cause for relief. The infrastructure of violence remains, he argues, and the stakes are getting higher. “These guys are predators,” he says. “You have to stand up to them, not back off.”

 

If Swedish society fails to confront the problem, Salihu warns, the targets of gang violence may one day include far more than just rivals. “I fear that our democratic institutions will come under pressure, be it prosecutors, or journalists – I myself would feel much more afraid.”

 

Based on a report by The Telegraph  2025-04-16

 

 

[koolkarl]

Multiculturalism won't work in a million years. Again prior incompetent politicians who were not qualified for the job and never held accountable are responsible for this mess.  There are parts of Stockholm, inhabited by muslims that the police are too afraid to enter.  Can you imagine?

[Eloquent pilgrim]

12 minutes ago, koolkarl said:

Multiculturalism won't work in a million years. Again prior incompetent politicians who were not qualified for the job and never held accountable are responsible for this mess.  There are parts of Stockholm, inhabited by muslims that the police are too afraid to enter.  Can you imagine?

 

Absolutely correct; adherents of Islam have no intention of integrating, they don't want to live in a multicultural society, they want to conquer and subjugate western civilisation; despite what all the left wing bedwetters on this forum will say

 

.

 

 

 

 

[phetphet]

What is the attraction for western societies of multiculturalism?

It's obvious they will get the bad as well as the good, and life is cheaper in many of the places these immigrants come from.

 

 

[BritManToo]

12 minutes ago, Eloquent pilgrim said:

Absolutely correct; adherents of Islam have no intention of integrating, they don't want to live in a multicultural society, they want to conquer and subjugate western civilisation; despite what all the left wing bedwetters on this forum will say

Don't think the basic problem is Islam though, think it's more about being raised in barbaric countries where gang membership, violence and murder are the norm. Lets face it, immigrants from South America and Mexico cause the same problems in the USA and they're all Catholics.

 

[KannikaP]

6 minutes ago, Eloquent pilgrim said:

 

Absolutely correct; adherents of Islam have no intention of integrating, they don't want to live in a multicultural society, they want to conquer and subjugate western civilisation; despite what all the left wing bedwetters on this forum will say

 

.

 

 

 

 

Black text is difficult to read.

[Woke to Sounds]

1 hour ago, Social Media said:

Once admired across Europe for its peaceful society and progressive ideals, Sweden now finds itself grappling with a grim reality: gangland killings, hired assassins, and the use of children as “soldiers” in an increasingly brutal criminal underworld.

 

I only had to read the 1st paragraph.

 

Only the Radical Leftist Marxists of Sweden could have dreamed it would go so well.

 

Diversity Is Our Strength!

[hotsun]

13 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Don't think the basic problem is Islam though, think it's more about being raised in barbaric countries where gang membership, violence and murder are the norm. Lets face it, immigrants from South America and Mexico cause the same problems in the USA and they're all Catholics.

 

Most mexicans contribute to the economy and dont leech off govt benefits to outbreed the native population

[Gsxrnz]

Historians will look back on the late 20th and early 21st centuries and conclude that the single biggest contributing factor to the demise and destruction of Western society was feminisation.

 

Allowing over emotional nutcases to run governments and alter societal norms with their inbuilt motherly nurturing tendencies was never a good idea.

 

Just imagine your (ex) wife making a logical decision during days 21-28 of her cycle. And we allowed them to be in charge.  Jesus wept. 

[BritManToo]

7 minutes ago, hotsun said:

Most mexicans contribute to the economy and dont leech off govt benefits to outbreed the native population

Latinos are now nearly 20% of the US population.

[FlorC]

Same article was on my Yahoo feed :

 

How Sweden’s multicultural dream went fatally wrong (yahoo.com)

 

[hotsun]

5 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Latinos are now nearly 20% of the US population.

Ive had many latino friends growing up. They have actually integrated pretty well with our society, not invaders

[EVENKEEL]

Diversity is wonderful. Waiting for our leftie contributors to explain all this away.

[Eloquent pilgrim]

24 minutes ago, Gsxrnz said:

Historians will look back on the late 20th and early 21st centuries and conclude that the single biggest contributing factor to the demise and destruction of Western society was feminisation.

 

Historians will look back on the late 20th and early 21st centuries and conclude that the single biggest contributing factor to the demise and destruction of Western society was Islam …..… there, fixed your nonsense for you.

 

 

[nick supreme]

Diversity is noble goal.  Sometimes you have to break a fews eggs to achieve noble goals. 

[Gsxrnz]

2 minutes ago, Eloquent pilgrim said:

 

Historians will look back on the late 20th and early 21st centuries and conclude that the single biggest contributing factor to the demise and destruction of Western society was Islam …..… there, fixed your nonsense for you.

 

 

Yeah, Yeah - I'll go with that.  But who was it that allowed, nay - encouraged, Islam to migrate to the West? I'm talking root cause, not symptoms of the disease. Just ask Angela Merkel.

[Eloquent pilgrim]

2 minutes ago, Gsxrnz said:

Yeah, Yeah - I'll go with that.  But who was it that allowed, nay - encouraged, Islam to migrate to the West? I'm talking root cause, not symptoms of the disease. Just ask Angela Merkel.

 

Indeed, history will not remember Mutti in a favourable light

 

 

[JonnyF]

Progressivism seeks to reform society. In order to completely change or "reform" a culture/society you must first break it down. They are disruptors, or you could say destroyers of societies.  

 

What we are seeing is not a mistake. Nobody could be so stupid as to think what we are witnessing in the West is a positive thing, not even self proclaimed "Liberals" are that ignorant. What the left are doing is not based on kindness. Kindness is the mask, what lies beneath is extremely dangerous. 

[Callmeishmael]

24 minutes ago, hotsun said:

Ive had many latino friends growing up. They have actually integrated pretty well with our society, not invaders

Likewise.  I've worked with and been friends with many Latinos and they don't do FGM, aren't religious extremists, are very family oriented and are usually very hard workers.

 

If the US has to be flooded with immigrants, I would rather they be Latino than some of the other alternatives.

 

[nick supreme]

35 minutes ago, Gsxrnz said:

Historians will look back on the late 20th and early 21st centuries and conclude that the single biggest contributing factor to the demise and destruction of Western society was feminisation.

 

Allowing over emotional nutcases to run governments and alter societal norms with their inbuilt motherly nurturing tendencies was never a good idea.

 

Just imagine your (ex) wife making a logical decision during days 21-28 of her cycle. And we allowed them to be in charge.  Jesus wept. 

You just hate a strong woman. 

[hotsun]

3 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Progressivism seeks to reform society. In order to completely change or "reform" a culture/society you must first break it down. They are disruptors, or you could say destroyers of societies.  

 

What we are seeing is not a mistake. Nobody could be so stupid as to think what we are witnessing in the West is a positive thing, not even self proclaimed "Liberals" are that ignorant. What the left are doing is not based on kindness. Kindness is the mask, what lies beneath is extremely dangerous. 

Taking away womens right to vote would help. Most of them want this

[Gaccha]

14 minutes ago, nick supreme said:

Diversity is noble goal.

 

Firstly, why? 

 

Secondly, macro-diversity necessarily means micro-homogeneity. If you insist on everywhere being diverse then everywhere becomes the same slop. 

 

Thirdly, you lack a sense of tragedy. A well-functioning civilised successful society is very rare in this world. What exactly produces the success is difficult to ascertain but radical experiments to change it are not such a great idea.

 

Chesterton's Gate tells us to be very cautious about changes that upend the very way mankind has lived for thousands of years.

 

Fourthly, the premise that diversity is a morally good thing only exists in societies with a high openness and high trust. These societies, like Sweden or the UK are vanishingly rare, and through the diversity importation they will cease to be open and high trust. The groups arriving will suffer from "third worldism": clannish inwardness and low trust.

 

Fifthly, wanting to move to live near White people is not a human right. It does seem like the whole world wants to move to White dominant countries but there is literally not enough room for 4 billion desperate people.

 

Can you imagine how boring the world will become if everywhere and anywhere has exactly the same population makeup. 

[save the frogs]

12 hours ago, koolkarl said:

Multiculturalism won't work in a million years.

why is it working much better in other countries?

only sweden seems to have these severe problems and it's probably due to sth else. 

 

[JonnyF]

21 minutes ago, Callmeishmael said:

Likewise.  I've worked with and been friends with many Latinos and they don't do FGM, aren't religious extremists, are very family oriented and are usually very hard workers.

 

If the US has to be flooded with immigrants, I would rather they be Latino than some of the other alternatives.

 

 

I'd agree.

 

Shared religion, a love of sport, family, hard work.

 

Latinos have much more in common with our societies than much of the cultures that are currently flooding into Europe.

 

I love the different cultures of Europe. Italy, Germany, France. All very different feels. If I go to Rome I want it to feel like Rome, not a sunny version of Rochdale. Sadly these individual cultures are being destroyed and we're all going to end up as the some kind of disjointed mishmash. Like a fine French wine with some Vodka and Baileys poured in. All by design, I might add. 

 

I'm just glad that Asia isn't stupid enough to make the same mistakes decisions.   

[Eloquent pilgrim]

5 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

why is it working much better in other countries?

only sweden seems to have these severe problems and it's probably due to sth else. 

 

 

And where exactly is multiculturalism working so much better …. thanks

 

 

[James105]

1 hour ago, Gsxrnz said:

Historians will look back on the late 20th and early 21st centuries and conclude that the single biggest contributing factor to the demise and destruction of Western society was feminisation.

 

Allowing over emotional nutcases to run governments and alter societal norms with their inbuilt motherly nurturing tendencies was never a good idea.

 

Just imagine your (ex) wife making a logical decision during days 21-28 of her cycle. And we allowed them to be in charge.  Jesus wept. 

 

I'm beginning to think that the biggest mistake is democracy and giving everyone the right to vote.   Half the population will be lower than average intelligence who are given exactly the same voting power as their more intelligent counterparts.  Kind of bonkers really.   How many anti-democratic states have embraced the nightmares of multi-culturalism, or net zero, or women with penises?   None.   

[JonnyF]

7 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

why is it working much better in other countries?

 

It isn't.

 

Maybe slightly less bad in some places.

 

The tighter it is controlled the better it works. Annual quotas, background checks, a points based system based on language skills, vocational skills, willingness to integrate etc. Remigration if crimes are committed in the first few years. No benefits until a certain number of years employment.

 

With these things in place immigration can have some positives but we are seeing nothing like that, it's an uncontrolled free for all. A total mess that is breaking down Western cultures and societies. By design. 

[black tabby12345]

Settlers' willingness to integrate into the new home.

Without it, Multiculturalism only makes a mess, creating divisions among the society.

And eventually leads to the destruction of the host countries.

 

While living as the expats/immigrants outside own home, the new comers should first learn how the locals  act, before the locals learn how the foreigners act.

 

Looks like Sweden ended up as the Unfortunate Case of the failed experiment.

[black tabby12345]

2 hours ago, Woke to Sounds said:

 

I only had to read the 1st paragraph.

 

Only the Radical Leftist Marxists of Sweden could have dreamed it would go so well.

 

Diversity Is Our Strength!

 

Looks like they are now Strangled with the Diversity they promoted.

Perfect example of: Lending the eaves, and losing the main house..

[Photoguy21]

To integrate the incoming people need to have similar outlook on many levels. The people coming into Europe now have no intention of integrating with the people of the country. They come because we are an easy target and in the case of the UK they know the lefty lawyers will keep them in the country.

In my opinion if you deliberately destroy any ID you may have then it should be an automatic refusal of entry. Before any of the do gooder's here say it would be against the Human Rights laws I say ignore those laws and look after the indigenous UK population.