Sweden: 236 explosions in 11 months

The police and other authorities are taken to bed over the development of blasts in the country. BRÅ shows that there were 236 blasts up to and including 30 November this year. In 2018, 162 cases occurred throughout the year. - Earlier we saw that hand grenades were used. Now we see how to use homemade charges instead as weapons in conflicts, says Stefan Hector, Operational Manager at NOA.

Linköping on June 7 this year, two minutes past nine in the morning, an explosive charge is heard throughout the city.

The explosive charge, which according to the investigation showed was between 15-20 kilograms of explosive was placed in a box bicycle that was placed outside the house. The explosion was so powerful that even nearby houses suffered serious damage. About ten people were injured, but as a result, no one was killed.

It is one of all the explosions that happened in Sweden in the past year. The latest statistics from the Crime Prevention Council, BRÅ, show that there have been 236 blasts up to and including 30 November this year. In 2018, 162 cases occurred throughout the year.

"Homemade charges like weapons"
Stefan Hector is operational manager at NOA. He believes that developments have become more serious in criminal circles.

- Earlier we saw that hand grenades were used. Now we see how to use homemade charges instead as weapons in conflicts. Either to be hurt or to be scared but with a new recklessness where one bursts where the public resides and is indifferent to the fact that they can be harmed, says Stefan Hector to SVT Nyheter.

Police do not know where explosives come from
The police and other authorities are taken to bed on the development and do not know where all the explosives come from.

- The phenomenon of explosives as weapons in conflicts is relatively new. This means that we have considerable uncertainty as to where the parts for the explosive charges come from, says Stefan Hector to SVT Nyheter.

At the National Forensic Center NFC you can see the large increase in analyzes.

- Our staff in the chemistry group has partly changed and is only working on analyzing explosives rather than working in several different business areas, as previously done, says Annica Karlsson, head of the chemistry group at NFC.

316 shootings and 38 murders
At the same time as the blasts are increasing, the number of fires and deaths is at about the same high level as last year.

Up to and including December 15 this year, which is the latest available statistics, there have been 316 shootings and 38 people have been killed. In 2018, 306 shootings occurred and 45 were killed.

The police clearance rate for deaths and explosions is very low. Fortunately, only people have died by gunshots and not by any explosion this year. The government has recently commissioned several authorities to tighten controls on explosives.

Source:
SVT Nyheter