The Swedish Security Service (Säpo) has found that taxpayer money is being funnelled into Islamic extremist group’s pockets through government grants.
Säpo has found that a large number of organisations with links to violent extremism are using federal and municipal grant systems in Sweden, which the police say could “contribute to radicalisation and thus growth in extremist environments in Sweden.”
The report found that all manner of extremist linked groups, both left-wing and right-wing, had taken advantage of state aid, however, Johan Olsson, the Operational Manager at Säpo said: “right now we see that the problem is greatest in the violent Islamist environment.”
The police say that individuals from Islamist groups are using public-funded schools, cultural associations and foundations as platforms to spread extremist ideology within Sweden.
Though it is difficult to estimate how much public funds are being used by Islamist groups, due to the lack of transparency in the funding system, it is believed that the figure is in the range of millions of Kronor (Swedish currency).
“To reduce growth in extremist communities, society needs to prevent organisations that contribute to radicalisation from receiving public funds. The state should not fund activities that undermine our democracy by supporting violent extremism” says Olsson.
Sweden has been ravaged by a spate of bombings, with one expert stating that the amount of bombings is unparalleled in the developed world. Some estimates claim that bombings have nearly doubled since 2018. The multicultural Swedish city of Malmo has been particularly hard hit by bombings and shootings.
Over the weekend a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed outside a pizza parlour in Malmo, and a second boy was left in critical condition. The shooting occurred minutes after a bomb was detonated, destroying a car in another district of Malmo.
In response to the surge in violence in Sweden, the government of Denmark has announced that it will introduce permanent border controls to block the violence from spreading across the border.