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The arrests underscore a trend across the continent of criminals
hiring people — many of them youngsters — via social media and
messaging apps to carry out acts of violence ranging from
assaults to murders in a chilling form of a gig economy.
“Violence is no longer confined to isolated acts or local
dynamics. It is increasingly offered as a service: accessible,
scalable and driven by online ecosystems that enable
recruitment, coordination, and execution across borders,”
Europol said in a statement.
The agency set up the task force last year made up of police
from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, the
Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. In
its first 12 months it identified more than 1,400 people linked
to violence as a service.
Among suspects arrested were a Dutch national accused of being a
getaway driver for two minors allegedly responsible for a string
of explosions in Germany in July and August 2025; in January, a
minor was arrested in Sweden for alleged involvement in a
shooting outside a prison in the Dutch city of Alphen aan den
Rijn.
Europol also posted details on a European most-wanted site of
three men wanted for alleged involvement in so-called
violence-as-a-service networks, two from Sweden and one from
Germany. They are wanted for their alleged roles in crimes
including murder, drug trafficking and money laundering.
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