”Now we have him.”
So wrote Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in a comment to TT after the gang leader Mikael ”Greken” Tenezos was arrested in Mexico last week after being internationally wanted for more than a year.
The question is whether ”we would have had him” if it weren’t for the special cooperation between Swedish and foreign police?
It can be both easy and different, says Deputy National Police Commissioner Stefan Hector.
We have Swedish criminals all over the world, but there is a higher density in particular in Iraq, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Dubai, and Morocco. In these countries, relationships, trust, and confidence are very important and it's not something that comes by itself. It has to be built up over a long time.
Services and favors
One way to build that kind of relationship can be through services and favors.
We are naturally moving within the legislation. If we want them to prioritize Swedish criminals, a counter-performance can be that Swedish police teach them something. We can offer, for example, training in forensics or IT, says Hector.
On Wednesday evening, a man - who is pointed out as a key figure in Foxtrot - was handed over to Swedish police from Iraq. The man was arrested in Iraq in 2023 and is suspected of several serious violent crimes. According to the police, more than 200 Swedes have been arrested abroad this year, about 30 of them are considered to have a significant impact on crime in Sweden.
A number of those arrested have been staying in Spain.
We have the European cooperation Europol that makes it easier to work, but we also have a bilateral direct work with Spain.
The Spanish Ministry of the Interior writes in an email to TT that the work with Swedish police is working well:
”Spain participates with Sweden in a coalition of countries in the fight against organized crime. The purpose is to strengthen cooperation in the fight against serious crime and drug trafficking”.
Can be stopped
The phenomenon of Swedish criminals sitting abroad and committing or ordering crimes can be stopped according to Stefan Hector. First and foremost, Swedish police must have an established cooperation with police in the relevant country.
Another dimension is the criminals' ability to communicate encrypted. Companies that provide such apps are not required to disclose information to crime prevention authorities. To be able to combat crime, we need to get information data, he says.
