Schoolboy arrested on suspicion of trying to hire hitmen to carry out contract killings
A Swedish schoolboy has been arrested in Australia after allegedly trying to hire hitmen to carry out contract killings.
The 15-year-old is said to have offered one assassin £15,600 and a gun to commit a murder in Denmark.
The teenager, who cannot be identified because of his age, was apprehended while living with his extended family in Sydney.
The boy is suspected of recruiting the hitmen through an encrypted messaging device on behalf of a 'transnational crime syndicate' operating in Scandinavia.
Australian Federal Police (AFP) arrested the teenager on Wednesday during an early morning raid.
Forensic officers are trawling through electronic devices seized in the raid to uncover further evidence.
The teenager had been sent to stay with his extended family in Australia in late 2024 after he fell in with a violent criminal gang vying for control of the lucrative drug markets in Scandinavia, the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported.
The boy is said, however, to have remained in contact with gang members online after he emigrated and helped them plot murders.
Police swooped after receiving intelligence from their Danish counterparts of a foreign national living in Australia who was allegedly linked to attempts to organise contract killings in Europe.
The boy has been charged with using telecommunications services to orchestrate murder.
There were no confirmed deaths as a result of his actions, police said.
He appeared before Surry Hills Children's Court and was refused bail.He is scheduled to reappear before the same court on June 11.
According to reports, the boy had been living in a quiet suburban street in Sydney. Social media photos of him in gold jewellery and Louis Vuitton designer clothes showed him 'trying to cultivate a gangster image'.
Lars Feldt-Rasmussen, deputy chief superintendent of Denmark's National Special Crime Unit, said: 'While in Australia, the young man is suspected of having attempted to recruit people to commit contract killings in Denmark and Sweden as part of ongoing gang conflicts in the Nordic region.
'This case highlights our collaborative and effective international police cooperation and shows that we are united in our fight against cross-border crime.'
Brett James from the AFP, said: 'The AFP regularly works with foreign policing partners, such as the Danish Police, and the identification of these alleged international criminal links is a testament to the enduring partnership and collaboration between our agencies.'
Sweden is in the grip of a wave of gang violence where children are often recruited to carry out bombings and contract murders.
In January 2025 alone, there were approximately 30 gang-related explosions reported in the country, often in residential areas and mostly concentrated in Stockholm, an EU report found.
As of 2024, an estimated 62,000 individuals were involved in or connected to criminal networks in Sweden, according to The Bloomsbury Intelligence and Security, a think tank formed by postgraduate students from University College London.
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