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CRIME

Police arrest one after Malmö hit by ‘extensive’ car fires

Several vehicles burned in blazes at different locations in Malmö on Saturday night.

Published: 27 August 2017 12:07 CEST
Police arrest one after Malmö hit by 'extensive' car fires
File photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

One person has been arrested on suspicion of arson, reports news agency TT.

Police were called to the Stensåkersvägen road in the Oxie district outside the city just before midnight on Saturday, reports the Kvällsposten newspaper.

Several cars were ablaze when police arrived at the scene and four homes were evacuated due to concerns about the fire spreading, according to the report.

A caravan also caught fire during the incident.

At the nearby Oshögavägen street, a garage complex fire resulted in 15 cars being burnt out. Houses close to the fire were evacuated and several homeowners tried to prevent the fire from spreading by dousing the flames with their own hoses.

By the earlier hours of Sunday, the flames were under control.

A 26-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of arson, according to an update posted by Skåne Police on the Swedish police website.

READ ALSO: Malmö's wave of car burnings continues (from 2016)

CRIME

Nordic justice ministers meet tech giants on gangs using apps to hire ‘child soldiers’

The justice ministers of Denmark, Sweden and Norway are to meet representatives of the tech giants Google, Meta, Snapchat and TikTok, to discuss how to stop their platforms being used by gang criminals in the region.

Published: 20 September 2024 10:31 CEST
Nordic justice ministers meet tech giants on gangs using apps to hire 'child soldiers'

Denmark’s justice minister, Peter Hummelgaard, said in a press release that he hoped to use the meeting on Friday afternoon to discuss how to stop social media and messaging apps being used by gang criminals, who Danish police revealed earlier this year were using them to recruit so-called “child soldiers” to carry out gang killings.  

“We have seen many examples of how the gangs are using social media and encrypted messaging services to plan serious crimes and recruit very young people to do their dirty work,” Hummelgaard said. “My Nordic colleagues and I agree that a common front is needed to get a grip on this problem.”

As well as recruitment, lists have been found spreading on social media detailing the payments on offer for various criminal services.   

Hummelgaard said he would “insist that the tech giants live up to their responsibilities so that their platforms do not act as hotbeds for serious crimes” at the meeting, which will take place at a summit of Nordic justice ministers in Uppsala, Sweden.

In August, Hummelgaard held a meeting in Copenhagen with Sweden’s justice minister, Gunnar Strömmer, at which the two agreed to work harder to tackle cross-border organised crime, which has seen a series of Swedish youth arrested in Denmark after being recruited to carry out hits in the country. 

According to a press release from the Swedish justice ministry, the morning will be spent discussing how to combat the criminal economy and particularly organised crime in ports, with a press release from Finland’s justice ministry adding that the discussion would also touch on the “undue influence on judicial authorities” from organised crime groups. 

The day will end with a round table discussion with Ronald S Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, on how anti-Semitism and hate crimes against Jews can be prevented and fought in the Nordic region. 

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