A shocking tidal wave of drug-fuelled violence in Swedenhas seen teenage “foot soldiers” armed with grenades and IEDs waging a brutal turf war. The Scandinavian nation has traditionally enjoyed one of the highest standards of living in Europe, and is often cited as a model society.

But Simon Reeve’s new three-part documentary series available on BBC iPlayer now, lifts the lid on a lesser known aspect of life in Sweden whereby gangs of youths, many from immigrant backgrounds, engage in shocking levels of violence. The journalist says: “What’s been happening here is completely staggering. There have been hundreds of shootings. Hand grenades have been thrown into buildings. It’s been described as low-intensity conflict.

Simon continued: “The Prime Minister here has said Sweden has never known anything like this.

“Roughly 10 years ago, violent crime began to rise dramatically. Deadly shootings among drug gangs, largely run by people from immigrant backgrounds, have since more than tripled.

“The gun murder rate in Stockholm is now roughly 30 times that of London. Sweden has the highest gun crime death rate in Europe after Montenegro and Albania. And it’s not just guns.”

During the course of the one-hour show, Reeve meets Swedish police officer John Wallander based in the city of Malmo, who explains that in 2018 he and his colleagues had experienced “rapidly increasing numbers of homemade bombs, hand grenades and so on”, plus improvised explosive devices (IEDs), many of them crude devices made from thermos flasks.

Mr Reeve said: “Gang warfare has exploded here, fuelled by the rise in cocaine use in Sweden and across Europe, gangs have taken advantage of liberal policies that children shouldn’t be arrested and actively recruited them.

“Police say there’s now around 1,200 child foot soldiers, bombers and even contract killers in their early teens working for the gangs. So they give me a little bit of a sense of what it is to be in the squad.

“The situation is out of control. Bomb units can get four call-outs a day. Overall, many crime rates here are around the European average.

“But exploitation of children in crime and gangland bombings are among the worst in the developed world. The land of Abba is now top of all Western countries for IED bombings.”

The rising violence follows an increase in immigration, Mr Reeves said most of the perpetrators, as well as the victims, come from migrant communities.

He continues: “It’s caused many Swedes to question long cherished liberal ideals.

“In recent decades, Swedes welcomed refugees from world conflicts, more than 100,000 from the wars in the Balkans, and hundreds of 1000s from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, many young men.”

Immigration into Sweden has been roughly four times the rate in other Western European countries, Mr Reeve pointed out.

He adds: “Hundreds of thousands of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees have come to sweden and to Scandinavia, and I think there’s been something of a sense here and across the region that almost just by being here, people would become Scandinavian and would enjoy the benefits of life as a Scandinavian. That is clearly not the case.

“Now we can debate whether there’s been a failure to integrate but there has definitely been a failure of integration.”

Sweden’s struggle with gang violence remains severe, despite a recent decline in overall deaths. In 2024, there were 270 shootings across the country – down from 363 in 2023 – but still alarmingly high by European standards.

Shockingly 44 people were killed by gunfire last year, and 57 more were injured, with authorities attributing much of the violence to turf wars between criminal networks.

Bomb attacks also remain common, with 129 confirmed detonations in 2024 and at least 27 blasts recorded in January 2025 alone.

Police say up to 25% of shootings now involve perpetrators under the age of 18, many of whom are recruited via social media.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said: “Sweden has never seen anything like this. We are fighting a war against gang crime, and we are going to push back hard.”