- Europol has discovered a new trend “violence as a service”, outsourcing violent crimes to young recruits.
- Originating in Sweden, the model has spread throughout Europe; OTF GRIMM Task Force Formed to Disrupt Social Media Recruiting
- In six months, GRIMM arrested 193 suspects (perpetrators, recruiters, facilitators, instigators) and seized firearms, thus preventing new attacks.
During the last half of 2025, Europol arrested and detained hundreds of people involved in violence as a service (VaaS).
This bizarre and dangerous trend, which many would likely compare to old-school “thugs for hire”, appears to have emerged in April this year and revolves around criminals outsourcing violence to “young, inexperienced perpetrators”.
“These individuals are trained or coerced to commit a series of violent crimes, ranging from acts of intimidation and torture to murder,” Europol said in a press release.
Hundreds of people arrested
“Closer cooperation with technology companies is equally important to detect and block recruitment activities on social media platforms, thus preventing young people from being exploited by these criminal networks,” says Europol.
Europol says the problem originated in Sweden but has now spread across Europe. Some criminal networks even operate in several EU countries. In response, law enforcement created the GRIMM Operational Taskforce (OTF), which is primarily focused on disrupting the recruitment process that takes place primarily on social media.
Law enforcement said most recruitment took place on social media, but did not specify where or how. He indicated that in the future, GRIMM would focus more efforts on disrupting criminal facilitators and service providers.
OTF GRIMM is composed of specialist investigators from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as experts from Europol and online service providers.
During the first six months of operations, GRIMM arrested 63 perpetrators, apprehended 40 facilitators, arrested 84 recruiters, and arrested 6 instigators (including five high-value targets).
Among these suspects were two people arrested in the Netherlands for attempted murder in Germany, three people suspected of murdering three people in the Netherlands, and six people (including a minor) suspected of planning a murder. “The operation also led to the seizure of firearms and ammunition, thus preventing a potential tragedy,” Europol said in the press release.
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