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CRIME

Denmark indicts man for planning school shootings

A 27-year-old man from North Jutland is to face trial for planning to commit shootings at schools in locations across Jutland.

Published: 14 December 2021 18:24 CET
A file photo of Aalborg City Court. A 27-year-old man is to face trial next year for planning school shootings.
A file photo of Aalborg City Court. A 27-year-old man is to face trial next year for planning school shootings. Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

The man produced a manifest and a number of videos over a four-year period in which he described his desire to carry out a shooting attack at a school, according to the charges against him, seen by news wire Ritzau.

He will be put on trial for planning to carry out several school shootings across northern and central Jutland. The schools targeted in the plans are not stated.

According to the charge sheet, he had already taken several concrete steps towards being able to carry out the shootings. These included gaining a firearms licence and a permit to store weapons in his home. He then acquired two pistols.

Live ammunition and an 18-centimetre blade were also found during a police raid on his address.

In addition, the 27-year-old also went to the locations of educational institutes in Aarhus and made online searches for information on schools and a kindergarten in the North and East Jutland regions.

Information found by the man included details of break times, number of pupils and teaching timetables.

The man produced a manifest between 2015 and 2019. According to prosecution authorities, his plans took such form that in 2018 he acquired a car which he intended to use for the attacks.

He also obtained “tactical clothing” according to the Ritzau report. The clothing was found alongside ammunition magazines and balaclavas.

On December 13th last year the man, who lived in the town of Hobro, ordered an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle via Darknet. He was arrested on December 16th 2020.

He has been remanded in custody since his arrest, primarily at a secure psychiatric facility.

He denies the charges against him in the case, which is scheduled to go to Aalborg City Court next year.

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CRIME

‘More Danes than ever’ victims of digital crime

Almost 190,000 people in Denmark were the victims of IT-related crime in 2023, according to new figures.

Published: 14 June 2024 17:15 CEST
'More Danes than ever' victims of digital crime

The number, released by the Danish Crime Prevention Council (Det Kriminalpræventive Råd) represents a significant increase on the previous year’s figure of 150,000.

Denmark’s justice ministry, national police and the University of Copenhagen all work with the Crime Prevention Council in an annual study which tracks the figure through contact with victims.

It represents a trend which is unlikely to slow down in coming years, according to the Council’s director Erik Christensen.

“Technological advances mean that there are more and more doors through which the criminals can walk in relation to scamming us normal members of the public,” he told newswire Ritzau.

The emergence of AI could make it even more likely that people become subjected to digital fraud attempts, he said.

The study found that online payments and abuse of payment information were most common types of fraud defined as IT-related.

But “contact fraud”, in which scammers contact targets by email, telephone or online, is also on the rise.

The figure for that specific type of crime went from 13,000 in 2022 to 47,000 last year.

READ ALSO: Danish courts issue warning over SMS scam

“Our best advice is that if each of us takes good time when we get an email or SMS… and check whether it is [actually] from the Tax Agency, municipality or bank,” Christensen said.

He also advised asking a family member or trusted person for a second opinion before answering any email or SMS, if in doubt.

In the most common type of IT crime – online transactions – some 85,000 people in Denmark last year lost money to scams such as fake web shops or trades with private individuals.

Another form – which hit 64,000 people – involves purchase of a fake or counterfeit item.

Some 76,000 people were victims of having their bank card details stolen and misused, some 19,000 more than in 2022.

“We must move away from shaming people who get scammed because anyone can fall victim to it. Even when you look at these numbers, we know there are also unreported cases,” Christensen said.

The Council director stressed the importance of victims of online fraud not feeling shame over what had happened.

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