Danish criminal groups have hired teenagers from Sweden to commit crimes on Danish territory on some 25 occasions in the last four months, according to Denmark’s Minister of Justice Peter Hummelgaard.

Three shootings – two in Copenhagen and one in Kolding – have been linked with Swedish teenagers in the last two weeks, with Hummelgaard now releasing a figure covering a significant number of other incidents.

The minister has previously said Danish authorities take the trend “very, very seriously” and are working with Swedish counterparts to stamp out the apparent use of hired Swedish youths to commit crimes.

He commented on the broader number of incidents after meeting with police special crime unit NSK and the chief of the National Police on Thursday.

“Criminal groups in Denmark have hired Swedish child soldiers – that’s what I call them – to commit criminal acts,” he told broadcaster DR.

“It’s very concerning that this can happen and very concerning that it’s now happening in Denmark,” he added.

Many of the cases are not known to the public because they were prevented by police, Hummelgaard said.

“Very few of the cases are unsolved. But it’s a very concerning trend,” he said.

The minister named for the first time a specific criminal gang in Denmark thought to be responsible for hiring the Swedish youths.

“The assessment is that it is now the organised gang that calls itself LTF which is in conflict with an unknown network, with both groups … giving paid criminal jobs to Swedish teenagers,” he said.

The organised crime group LTF [‘Loyal to Familia’, ed.] has twice been banned by Danish courts, in 2018 and 2021, but is therefore active again, according to Hummelgaard.

Last week, two Swedish nationals aged 17 and 16 years were placed in pre-trial detention after carrying out shootings in Kolding and Copenhagen respectively.

According to Danish police, the two youths were recruited on social media to commit crimes in Denmark. In the Kolding shooting a man was shot at least three times in the leg, and in the Copenhagen shooting, at the Blågårds Plads square in Nørrebro, no one was injured.

On Tuesday, a 17-year-old Swede was put in remand by a court in Copenhagen district Frederiksberg following a shooting incident in the area. Suspects under the age of 18 cannot be put into arrest but are detained in the care of authorities.

The most recent incident followed this week when a hand grenade was thrown at a convenience store in Copenhagen. An 18-year-old was detained.

“The police have requested additional resources: that we improve their ability to de-encrypt the information services where these deals are made. That we broaden the police’s digital tools so they can also use face recognition,” Hummelgaard said.

The minister said existing anti-gang measures – including a package adopted this year and which came into effect in July – were capable of preventing gang crime in Denmark “so it doesn’t rise to the overwhelming level we are seeing in the Netherlands or Sweden”.

He meanwhile ruled out introducing checks on Denmark’s border with Sweden.

“Nothing about these situations says that border controls would be an effective measure. On the contrary,” he said.