Police: Foreign Forces Recruiting Swedes via Social Media to Launch Attacks

Sweden’s National Police Commissioner, Petra Lund, said on Tuesday that foreign forces are using social media applications to recruit Swedes, including children, to carry out violent attacks on targets such as the Israeli embassy, as happened last year.

According to Reuters, Lund did not specify the nature of these foreign forces, but Sweden’s security service had previously stated that the Iranian government was using criminal networks within Sweden to carry out acts of violence.

Lund mentioned that the attacks on the Israeli embassy in Stockholm last year were examples of complex attacks that use both traditional and unconventional methods to create instability. She added: “It is an adversary that does not wear a uniform, a threat we cannot confront with traditional military defense methods.”

Over the past two years, gangs in Sweden have begun using social media platforms to offer services for carrying out murders and other violent crimes.