Gangs hijack Sweden's free choice school system

Gangs hijack Sweden's free choice school system

With elections due in 2026 and public concern growing, the issue has become a flashpoint in Sweden's ongoing battle against organised crime.

Criminal gangs decide where Swedish children go to school

Criminal gangs in Sweden are determining where children attend school in order to maintain control over local drug networks and recruit new members, according to a report by public broadcaster SVT. The findings, published by the investigative programme Uppdrag granskning, reveal that gangs have carved up school zones across parts of Sweden and are placing young recruits in specific schools to support their operations.

Schools are important bases for criminal gangs.

Young people involved in gang crime choose schools based on their contact networks and friends to feel safe. This is what both school staff and young criminals testify to for SVT's Uppdrag granskning.

School staff, students and gang members testify in SVT's "Uppdrag granskning" about how criminal networks use schools to recruit young people and to sell drugs. - They take over drug sales in the school, or in the area near the school, says a source to the program.

As gangs recruit younger and younger people to carry out serious violent missions, crime is penetrating the world of schools. There are students in Swedish schools with a violent capital that scares school staff into silence. – We cannot bow down to children. It is not possible. Because we are the ones who are supposed to raise them and help them out into the world to a meaningful life, says teacher Joachim Svärd.