Migrant mafia gangs are terrorising Sweden’s streets with a surge of bombings and murders, forcing police chiefs in one of Europe’s most liberal countries to admit they are losing their grip on law and order.
Just five years after the country welcomed refugees with open arms, criminal clans from the Middle East, north Africa and the Balkans are behind soaring crime rates in their once peaceful cities, police say, with 257 bombings and more than 300 shootings last year.
In one extraordinary incident in August, Gothenburg’s most notorious crime family, the Ali Khan gang, set up roadblocks in the northeast of the city, shining torches into cars to hunt for members of a rival mob.
Police broke up the checkpoints and made 20 arrests. But in a move that was seen as symbolic of Sweden’s ‘soft touch’, the suspects were released because prosecutors decided they hadn’t broken the law.
In an exclusive interview, Erik Nord, Gothenburg’s chief of police, told MailOnline: ‘These criminal clans have a completely different culture that makes them very difficult to tackle with normal police methods.
‘We need more police and our courts and prisons need to be reinforced to deal with this situation urgently. Otherwise we will turn into a gangsters’ paradise.’
The country’s Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven, has consistently refused to admit that migrants are behind the increasing violence. But as the situation spirals out of control, police officers are breaking their silence.
‘Two years ago, if people linked immigration to crime as I am now, they would be accused of being racist,’ Mr Nord said. ‘But the paradigm is shifting.’
Last month, the country’s deputy chief of police, Mats Löftving, identified 40 mafia clans who had come to Sweden ‘solely for the purpose of organising and systemising crime’.
His comments came after the roadblock incident, which was part of a feud sparked when members of a group called the Backa Gang shot at a member of the notorious Ali Khan group.
The Ali Khan family has been dubbed a mafia organisation by Swedish police and media alike, though its members insist that the convictions of some do not represent the whole.
Members of the family have been reported to the authorities more than 200 times in the last two years, but in many of the cases the informants mysteriously withdraw their complaints.
In sworn testimony given at court, the local police chief Ulf Merlander said: ‘[The Ali Khans] have been part of a lot of criminal activities over the years. They’ve affected the local community pretty negatively for a long time.
‘When I look at this family, roughly 60 out of the 120 individuals are over the age of 15. About 40 of them are male, and over 30 have criminal records.’
He added: ‘The types of crime that the Ali Khans are known for are murder, extortion, serious violations of a woman’s integrity, physical abuse, unlawful threats, drug crimes and unlawful possession of weapons.’
According to police sources, the Backa Gang thug did not know that he was shooting at an Ali Khan member. In the tit-for-tat battle that followed, a Backa hoodlum was gunned down in a drive-by shooting.
Poised for further escalation, the Ali Khans set up the checkpoints to defend themselves, stopping all cars entering their patch to check for rival mobsters.
The Ali Khan network, described by Swedish police officers and media as one of the country’s most feared and violent gangs, is typical of mafia rings all over the country. Part of a larger clan that is made up of seven related families, it has branches in Denmark, Germany and Lebanon. The Ali Khans are seen as the clan’s enforcers.
Hashem Ali Khan, 63, is believed to be the head of the family. He arrived in Sweden with a bullet in his back in 1984 as a refugee from Lebanon’s civil war, and set up home in a quiet suburban cul-de-sac in Angered, northeast Gothenburg, in what would become the heart of his family’s territory.
In this middle class, semi-detached modern home, the frail pensioner with a large white beard receives regular visits from senior relatives. He officiates every Friday at the nearby al Salam mosque, which offers courses in martial arts as well as prayer and study sessions.
