They have no respect for life. Not even because of the “codes,” which there are – or were – in some organized crime groups. They are very young. They recruit them as minors. They kill without mercy… their cruelty is worrying. This is what police sources consulted by 20 Minutes confirm. They are kids of Swedish, Belgian, Danish or Dutch nationality. In some cases, from families originating from other countries, second generation or born outside the European Union but raised in northern European countries. There are examples of everything, but the exact proportion is not known. A profile that matches the person arrested for the crime of the surgeon in Marbella.
They are recruited as minors and end up being commissioned to kill for a sum of money. From 4,000 euros to 20,000, depending on who and how. They make express trips to commit the crime and leave as soon as they complete their mission. They try to have everything organized to act as ghosts, but the police surveillance is forceful - several operations have been frustrated - as well as the experience of these criminals is often poorly formed. Although it is not a completely new phenomenon, the authorities warn of a turning point in 2018. And it seems to be getting worse. This profile of hitmen on the Costa del Sol continues to act, fueled by various situations and facilitated by the anonymity of messaging platforms.
An important part of these hitmen are Swedes. In Sweden, violence between criminal networks has been increasing since the early 2000s. Certain gangs fragmented, their confrontations intensified, and increasingly younger perpetrators joined. The country has changed a lot since Olof Palme and although the 80s were not an Eden either, certain forms of Swedish crime have been growing until the country has the highest rate of firearm homicides among men and young people in the European Union. Now Sweden is experiencing a period of greater social inequality that clashes with the high number of billionaires. According to USB's 2025 Global Wealth Report, it ranks sixth among the countries analyzed with the greatest disproportion in the distribution of wealth. And this causes unrest, discontent, need, often exploitation and proliferation of alternative means of livelihood.
The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) has been warning for years about the delicate situation of certain young people, although Swedish crime already existed strongly in areas of Malmö, Gothenburg and Stockholm. The transformation has been progressive, from criminal organizations with hierarchical structures and internal rules to more fragmented, less organized groups, with less stable relationships between their members, fights between rivals and a strong transnational component.
Shootings have become a source of income. Violence is not only carried out between gangs, it is now used by order and to profit abroad. Something that has ended up in another breeding ground: the southeast of Spain, where due to its strategic position, among several reasons, international organizations have been organized and their consequent disputes over the management of illicit businesses.
If before they were between 20 and 35 years old, now those aged 16 recruit those aged 13. They are cheaper and, in general, face more lenient sentences. Although Sweden has recently reformed the law, passed in August, to lower the age to be convicted of murder to 14 years in some serious cases. The action of the Clan de los Swedes in Spain in 2018 provided a new scenario, but the Costa del Sol was already facing different organized crime groups of diverse origins in dispute for control of drug trafficking or money laundering. Marbella, Estepona, Malaga. Many of the Clan were detected and expelled in operations, but the dynamic of contract killing tries to remain.
In 2023, Brå published an analysis precisely on Swedish children and young people captured in criminal networks. Teenagers who recruit children up to 12 years old become executioners and mentors. At first they are dedicated to logistics, transportation or drug distribution tasks. Little by little, depending on their career, they are assigned greater tasks: blackmail, extortion, robberies, violent attacks. In this way, leaders benefit from “little subordinates”, “the puppies”. This generates a relationship of dependency: they take advantage of their situation of vulnerability, both economic and personal, and subject them to control through debts, threats, rewards or recognition. They are easier to manipulate.
Technology facilitates your communications. In 2024, the Swedish police themselves detected several mobile messaging groups in which kids with no criminal record were recruited to commit highly serious violent crimes. Networks like Foxtrot or Dalen systematically exploit children and adolescents. Many are captured and sent to different places to commit crimes. And some reach Spain.
