The Danish government will introduce permanent border controls with Sweden due to the rising tide of gang violence plaguing the Scandinavian country.
Justice minister Nick Hekkerup said on Thursday that the threat from Swedish organised gang violence means Denmark must enact stricter border controls with its northern neighbour, Swedish broadcaster SVT reports.
“Organised crime from Sweden is central here. We have seen a worrying development in Sweden with explosions and increased violence,” Hekkerup said. “We have been monitoring this and decided to strengthen border protection against Sweden,” he added.
The decision also comes after Swedish residents were implicated in two major criminal incidents earlier this year in Denmark, the most notable event being the bombing of the Tax Authority at Østerbro in Copenhagen in August that destroyed much of the facade of the office building.
A 22-year-old man from the multicultural Swedish city of Malmö, which lies close to the border with Denmark, was later arrested in connection with the bombing. Last month, another suspect, again, a Swedish national, was arrested at Copenhagen airport.
While explosions have risen across Sweden, Malmö has been one of the focal points of explosions, with the city seeing three explosions within 24 hours in June.
The situation has become so dire in the city that last month police warned the public to be on guard for explosive devices. Police said people should pay special attention to suspicious objects when walking around alone at night.
A report released earlier this year by Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter compared a range of statistics and found that explosions had surged by up to 45 per cent across the country from January to July 2019 when compared to the same period in the previous year.