Gangs Recruit Minors as Killers: Europol Sounds Alarm, Sets Up New Task Force "Grimm"
- by Christian Esser
- and Nico Schnurr
- ~ 2 Min read
Rising Trend of Child and Adolescent Homicide Contractors Alarms Europol Investigator - Rising Trend Alert: More Children and Adolescents Being Recruited as Hired Assassins, Warns Europol Investigator
Europe's police force is taking a hard stand against the alarming trend of organized crime gangs recruiting children and teenagers to execute contracts, as depicted in a recent interview with Europol's Chief Investigator Andy Kraag by Der Spiegel. The new, cross-border task force called "Grimm" is an initiative of Europol aiming to counteract this worrying trend.
Kraag, who leads Europol's Center for Organized Crime, explained that young people are increasingly being exploited by criminal gangs for activities such as drug dealing, kidnapping, torture, and murder. "This is a massive problem that's spiraling out of control across Europe," Kraag warned.
Gang leaders view children and teenagers as prime targets, as they're more vulnerable to manipulation, Kraag stated. They offer them promises of easy money, status, friendship, and swift integration into their criminal world. Sounding ominous, Kraag said, "One day, it could be a machine gun right there in the kid's room."
Social Media Entangled
Criminal groups masterfully exploit social media platforms to reach potential recruits, using safe, seemingly innocuous job ads to lure in unsuspecting victims. The process of entangling young people in their nefarious underbelly can happen within days of making contact, with casual, friendly chats turning to deadly missions that these impressionable youths execute without a second thought.
International Crackdown
The new task force, "Grimm," is already underway, led by Sweden and involving investigators from seven other European countries: Germany, Denmark, Finland, France, Belgium, Norway, and the Netherlands. The task force's objectives are to collaborate on information-sharing, identify recruitment networks, pressure social media platforms to remove criminal content, and raise public awareness about the dangers of these practices.
A Long-term Commitment
Europol's Center for Organized Crime understands that this will be a long-term undertaking, and while initial results might take time to materialize, Europol is pressing forward with this initiative. Kraag urged, "We need to address this problem now before organized crime adapts and evolves to continue exploiting our most vulnerable young people."
- Europol
- Crime
- Children
Additional Insights:
- International Collaboration: Europol collaborates closely with various countries and international partners in its intelligence-gathering endeavors, as seen in cross-border operations like the one initiated by the Danish police[1][2][3].
- Monitoring "Crime-as-a-Service" Platforms: Europol is actively tracking and combatting encrypted networks and darkweb marketplaces where contract killings, among other crimes-for-hire, are common[4].
- Preventive Measures: Europol often focuses on educational campaigns, outreach programs for at-risk youth, and implementing legal frameworks to combat underage criminal involvement[2]. While not explicitly mentioned here, they likely prioritize these measures as part of their overall strategy against organized crime.
- Europol's recently established task force, "Grimm," aims to implement a community policy that specifically targets the recruitment of minors by organized crime gangs, a concern raised by Europol's Chief Investigator Andy Kraag.
- Investigators from seven European countries, including Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Finland, France, Belgium, Norway, and the Netherlands, collaborate within the "Grimm" task force, working to identify recruitment networks and pressure social media platforms to remove criminal content.
- In the realm of general-news and crime-and-justice, it is known that youth policy plays a significant role in Europol's efforts to combat child exploitation by organized crime gangs. This involves preventive measures such as educational campaigns and outreach programs for at-risk youth.
- Investigators at Europol are steadfast in their commitment to tackling the issue of minors being recruited as killers by organized crime gangs, recognizing that this is a long-term problem that requires sustained efforts to achieve meaningful results.
