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Gun-carrying Danish gang member arrested on bus

A city bus in the town of Ishøj near Copenhagen was stopped on Wednesday as police boarded to arrest a passenger who was carrying a firearm.

Published: 12 October 2018 10:43 CEST

Gun-carrying Danish gang member arrested on bus

File photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

The passenger, who is in his twenties, was removed from the bus by police, Ritzau reports.

Police confirmed he is considered to be a gang member.

A police search following his removal from the bus revealed he was carrying the gun. He was on Thursday remanded in custody for four weeks by a judge at Glostrup District Court.

Police prosecutor Louise Arffmann said that the man admitted in the preliminary court hearing to have been carrying a gun on board the bus, as well as in another public location on September 24th.

West Copenhagen Police lead investigator Søren Enevoldsen said the police operation on the bus had taken place “calmly”.

“We had him under control,” Enevoldsen said, adding police did not draw their weapons during the arrest.

READ ALSO: Police cite gang 'split' after violent incidents in Copenhagen

Why Copenhagen police say crime is on the up in Christiania

Copenhagen Police arrested three men on Saturday for selling cannabis on Pusher Street in the alternative enclave of Christiania, as they continue their efforts to stamp out the area’s former open-air cannabis market.

According to police, 875 people were arrested for selling cannabis in the first 11 months of 2022, more than in any other year over the past four years.

A possible explanation for the increase in arrests could be that the rewards for operating hash stands have receded, according to a police spokesperson.

“It is extremely unattractive to stand out there, and therefore a lot of new people come in who have no idea what it is all about. Many of them come from outside the catchment area, and some of them are peripherally associated with a criminal group,” Simon Hansen, head of a Copenhagen Police special unit, told newspaper Politiken.

“It’s a bit – in inverted commas – ‘easier’ for us to catch these people,” he said.

Around half of the stalls in the street are linked to various gangs and biker gangs, such as Satudarah, Bandidos, Hells Angels and Loyal To Familia, with the rest run by people living in Christiania, the Berlingske newspaper reported earlier this month.

The trend of rising crime occurs against a background of potential housing develop in Christiania, as the enclave’s residents decide on a plan to put affordable housing in the area.

Copenhagen Police last year told news wire Ritzau that the majority of people who are arrested within Christiania come from socially underprivileged or marginalised backgrounds.

They are exploited in gang and biker circles, resulting in them in some cases operating the illicit hash market stalls, according to the police.

Conflicts between organised crime groups have reportedly become more frequently aired in the Pusher Street market.

READ ALSO: Denmark’s ‘freetown’ Christiania hangs onto soul, 50 years on

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