Ready to murder?'

"Stockholm, Sweden - It's a sunny summer morning in the historic university city of Uppsala in central Sweden. Two teenage boys glide past a plaza filled with cafes and toward the sleek glass facade of the newly renovated railway station on electric scooters, their dark tracksuits hanging loosely on their slight frames. At about 9am, the boys board a train for the three-hour journey north to the small coastal city of Sundsvall, tucked between the Baltic Sea and rolling forests of pine and birch."

"Hugo* and Jesper*, aged 14 and 16, are so-called child soldiers hired by the Foxtrot network, one of Sweden's most violent gangs, for a mission that police would later theorise was to kill a 21-year-old rapper linked to the rival Dalen network. 'You couldn't handle a revolver' When the teenage boys arrived at their destination in July 2023, they were met by another teenager, 15-year-old Kaleb*, and an adult, Axel*."

"Axel was what is known as an enabler: Responsible for the logistics of the assassination, from travel arrangements to accommodation. At an Airbnb apartment he rented, tensions flared between the boys over who got what gun. In footage later recovered from Axel's phone, one of the boys stood up from the sofa and shouted, Bro, listen, you couldn't handle a revolver - look at you! Later, a shot was fired by accident, and a bullet flew into the wall. Panicking, the boys hid the weapons in nearby woods before returning to the flat to sleep."

Criminal networks in Sweden recruit children and teenagers to act as armed operatives and logistical aides in inter-gang violence. Minors as young as 14 and 16 are transported long distances with concealed firearms and assigned roles by adult enablers who handle travel and accommodation. Tensions, accidental discharges and panic during operations reveal poor training and high risk. Rival networks respond with kidnappings and torture, intensifying cycles of violence. Recovered phone footage and court material document recruitment, mission planning, mistakes and the traumatic consequences for the minors involved, complicating law enforcement responses.

Read at www.aljazeera.com