STOCKHOLM, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said on Thursday that the government would boost its efforts to crack down on gang crimes.
He made the pledge after a meeting of Security Policy Council on discussion of ways to clamp down on gang warfare and organized crime.
The meeting came after after a surge in shootings and other violent incidents in Sweden.
Lofven told a press conference that no one should have to fear shootings or gang criminality in Sweden. "Gang crime will be broken," he said.
The prime minister gave the suburb Sodertalje, south of Stockholm, as a good example in crackdown on organized crimes, and said the municipality's approach may be replicated elsewhere.
Sodertalje has seen violent conflicts between criminal gangs and several shootings in public places before local police was reinforced last fall to help calm and control the situation.
Home Affairs Minister Anders Ygeman, who was also at the press conference, said efforts to combat crime in "particularly vulnerable" areas of Sweden will be tightened, and that different authorities will collaborate in order to find criminals.
Several Swedish cities have seen a spate of shootings recently, with most thought to be showdowns between rivalling criminal gangs. Stockholm recently saw five murders within a few days. So far this year, there have been 17 shootings in the capital city, leaving seven people dead and 14 wounded. And there are 12 ongoing gang conflicts in the Stockholm area, news agency TT reported earlier this month.
