- Europol Unveiled New ‘Violence-as-a-Service’ Trend Outsourcing Violent Crimes to Young Recruits
- Originating in Sweden, the model spread throughout Europe; OTF GRIMM taskforce formed to disrupt recruitment on social media
- Over six months, GRIMM arrested 193 suspects (perpetrators, recruiters, enablers, instigators) and seized firearms, preventing further attacks
In the latter half of 2025, Europol has arrested and detained hundreds of people involved in Violence-as-a-Service (VaaS).
This bizarre and dangerous trend, which many would liken to old-school “thugs for hire”, apparently emerged in April this year and involves criminals outsourcing violence to “young, inexperienced offenders”.
“These individuals are groomed or coerced into committing a range of violent crimes, from intimidation and torture to murder,” Europol said in a press release.
Hundreds arrested
“Closer cooperation with technology companies is equally important to detect and block recruitment activities on social media platforms, preventing young people from being exploited by these criminal networks,” claims Europol.
Europol says the problem originated in Sweden but has now spread across Europe. Some criminal networks even operate in several countries throughout the EU. In response, the law enforcement agency created the Operational Taskforce (OTF) GRIMM, which focuses primarily on disrupting the recruitment process, which mostly takes place on social media.
The law enforcement agency said most of the recruiting is done on social media, but did not elaborate on where or how. It said that going forward, GRIMM will focus more on disrupting the providers and the criminal service providers.
OTF GRIMM consists of specialist investigators from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK together with Europol experts and online service providers.
During the first six months of operations, GRIMM arrested 63 perpetrators, apprehended 40 activists, detained 84 recruiters and arrested 6 instigators (including five high-value targets).
Among these suspects were two people in the Netherlands arrested for an 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, preventing a potential tragedy,” Europol said in the press release.
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