STOCKHOLM, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Swedish and Norwegian police will build a police station on the two countries' border to strengthen cooperation and prevent Swedish criminal gangs from expanding their activities into Norway, the two countries' police chiefs said on Wednesday.
"Serious organized crime operates across the border and it is, therefore, important to strengthen our long-term cooperation," Sweden's National Police Commissioner Anders Thornberg said in a press release.
A new police station that straddles the border will, therefore, be built some 80 kilometers east of Norway's capital Oslo, the Swedish news agency TT reported.
"It's about strengthening safety and security, which can only be done by working together," Thornberg said.
Norway's National Police Commissioner Benedicte Bjornland said in the press release that many of the criminal networks that operate in Norway have links to Sweden.
"This could concern the smuggling of drugs, access to weapons or Swedish gang members carrying out violent missions in Norway," she said. "Sharing knowledge is important to facilitate a joint preventive effort."
In a study released in 2021, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention found that among 23 European countries studied, Sweden had moved from the lowest number of shootings to the highest during the years 2000 to 2019.
According to the latest statistics released by Swedish Police, 247 shootings resulted in the loss of 30 lives and 73 injuries across the country between Jan.1 and Aug.31.
In the same period, 120 bombings took place in Sweden, according to the Swedish Police. ■