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CRIME

Swedish couple charged with burying woman’s body in cement block

A man and a woman have been charged on suspicion of having buried a woman’s body in cement, Upplands Väsby, northeast of Stockholm, a local newspaper reported on Friday.

Published: 3 November 2017 17:36 CET
Swedish couple charged with burying woman’s body in cement block
Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Twenty-nine-year-old Madelene from Järfälla, near the Swedish capital, disappeared in November, 2015. Three months after her disappearance, and after a massive search operation, her body was then found buried in a block of cement in a forest.

Shortly after the gruesome discovery, the woman’s ex-boyfriend was arrested on suspicion of her murder, and his new girlfriend was also taken into custody on suspicion of having protected a criminal, but because of a lack of evidence, the two were later released. Among other things, coroners have not been able to establish Madelene’s cause of death.

The investigation into her death has continued, however, and on Friday, the Mitti newspaper reported that the pair have now been charged with casting her dead body in the cement block.

According to the prosecutor they are suspected of “unlawfully having moved, damaged and reprehensibly handled” Madelene’s body. If they are convicted of the charges, they face up to two years in prison.

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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