Authorities are speaking up over increasing violent crime linked to organized crime as hitmen have reportedly already been sent to Finland. According to police reports Swedish criminal groups have aggressively expanded into the Finnish drug market and have introduced acts of violence carried out as paid services. While Finland has so far either successfully prevented the most severe crimes or avoided them by chance the phenomenon has already claimed lives in Sweden.
Published: 09/09/25 | 22:15
These violent acts follow the so-called “crime as a service” model.
Yle reported on Tuesday that two Swedish men who were previously convicted of contract killings in Sweden are now serving sentences in Finland. One of them was convicted earlier this year in Helsinki District Court for a shooting in Lassila Helsinki, in August of the previous year. Finnish police say this contract killing was carried out under the crime-as-a-service principle.
Another individual is under investigation in Turku for allegedly preparing a serious crime against life or health.
Senior Criminal Inspector Markku Heinikari of the Helsinki Police expressed, “This phenomenon has been observed in Finland though not nearly to the extent seen in Sweden. It has many features that are unprecedented here.”
The term “crime as a service” refers to criminal acts commissioned by someone who may have no personal connection to the perpetrator beyond the requested crime. In Finnish it is sometimes described as “crime committed as a purchased service.”
The rise of online platforms facilitating such crimes often links back to Sweden where individuals have been sent specifically to Finland to carry out violent acts. Heinikari explained that Swedish criminal groups have taken strong control over the Finnish drug market where violence and drug trafficking frequently go hand in hand.
Local accomplices are often needed in Finland providing perpetrators with lodging or weapons. Those carrying out these purchased violent acts are often young and although the crimes are planned their execution is not always professional. The financial reward is typically modest and in some cases not paid at all.
“Serious crimes are apparently being carried out for relatively low sums,” Heinikari said.
Most of these crimes are connected to drug-related activity and involve the same criminal networks operating in Sweden. Heinikari emphasized, “This is a massive problem in Sweden where shootings and explosions occur constantly.”
In Finland a contract killing attempt failed in the summer of 2024 and another case involves suspicion of a serious crime against life or health. Similar patterns have also been seen in other types of crime.
Authorities have additionally raised concerns about the cybercrime dimension noting that many online services can be used to commission cyberattacks.
In May, police confiscated a 30-kilogram shipment of cocaine which was also reportedly traded on a contract basis.
In money laundering cases Finnish authorities have long observed the use of “mules,” with some ordinary young Finns recruited to participate in these operations on a contract basis.
The same model of commissioned criminal activity has been employed in Russia’s hybrid warfare. According to the Finnish Security Intelligence Service Russian intelligence services have offered payments to criminals to carry out sabotage operations in the European Union though no such acts have been detected in Finland.
