THEY look like innocent, fun-loving young women – yet they’re being armed with skin-melting firebombs, driving hitmen to executions, and stashing guns for some of the world’s most ruthless gangs.
Meet the so-called Green Girls behind a terrifying new wave of violence plaguing Europe, with experts telling The Sun that they will take on the deadliest assignments to prove they’re “tougher” than male gangsters – as they become “addicted” to crime.
The baby-faced criminals are a key part of a brutal criminal underworld that stretches out from the suburbs of Sweden’s capital Stockholm all the way across Europe.
But behind that label sits a staggering reality, with as many as 10,000 women now being linked to criminal networks, according to Swedish cops.
Their twisted roles include helping keep drug pipelines alive, weapons hidden for their gangster lovers, and help lure targets out for attacks.
And according to experts, many of them are lured in for one bizarre reason – “out of love”.
The Sun spoke to a former “green girl” who told us how she was lured in as a teenager – becoming “addicted” to the glamorous and seedy criminal life.
And while she was 19 when she was brought into the underworld, the conveyor belt of recruits is only getting younger.
Girls as young as 11 or 12 are already fantasising about gang life, coaxed in by social media trends promising cash, status and a “rich boyfriend” escape route, reports SVD.
Last year alone, 280 girls aged 15 to 17 were charged with murder, manslaughter or other violent crimes in Sweden – with many linked to gang violence.
Experts say the figure experts barely scratches the surface of how many are actually working for the networks.
Earning their name as they are fresh recruits, with clean records and easy to miss by the authorities – they are now soldiers on the frontline of an international and ultraviolent gang war.
Many would have never dreamed they would have being anywhere near a crime scene before being lured in.
And according to one of Sweden‘s leading criminologists, they join in not only for glory or cash, but because “they are trying to please a guy they like.”
Most often, they join the life of crime “out of love”, through brothers, boyfriends or simply platonic lovers they want to impress.
‘Sweet girl’ turned mob queen
The clearest window into this world comes from someone who lived it – long before “Green Girls” became a national panic.
Natalie Klockars, now 28, grew up in organised crime.
Her Syrian father was a high-ranking member of a drugs-trafficking syndicate in Sweden, locked in high-security prison throughout her childhood.
And her mother also gravitated to gang leaders, with most of Natalie’s stepdads being criminals.
When she stepped into crime herself, the term “Green Girl” didn’t exist yet, but she had her own label.
Natalie told The Sun: “I didn’t operate under the term ‘green girl,’ but when I was criminal, my name was ‘Grama Gusan,’ which meant the ‘Green Girl’.”
She was one of only a handful of female dealers. Yet she racked up 3,000 customers.
“I was a sweet girl, just 4ft 10in tall. I spoke perfect Swedish, dressed nicely, and looked proper,” she explained.
Men felt safe buying from her, she said.
“I was self-made and not part of a gang. When I got more customers, I recruited other girls and we became like a girl gang.”
Unlike today’s recruits, she wasn’t working for a boyfriend, and wasn’t doing it out of love.
She was doing it for power and money.
“When I got my first 100,000 kronor, I felt so rich — like a millionaire,” Natalie recalled.
“When I saw the money, I wasn’t addicted to drugs anymore — I was addicted to the lifestyle. I felt like I was somebody.”
For Natalie, the end came violently.
She said: “I got pregnant, and some people took me and my friend to the woods. They kidnapped us, put a gun to his head, and tried to execute us.”
She realised she didn’t want her daughter born into this life.
And five years on, she still pays the price.
She said: “It’s been five years, and I still cry in my sleep. I have mental health problems because of it. It’s not worth the price you pay with your mental health.”
Baby-faced foot soldiers
Dr Ardavan Khoshnood, an associate professor at Lund University, has spent years tracking the gender shift in Sweden‘s criminal landscape.
What he’s seeing now is a transformation he describes as nothing short of catastrophic – teenagers who seem like law-abiding citizens suddenly ferrying guns, renting safehouses, or unknowingly chauffeuring shooters.
He told The Sun: “The risk for the police to stop this car being driven by a girl they have never known about is very, very small.”
Prosecutor Lisa dos Santos added the term “Green Girls” came straight from gang communications.
She explained: “The name was something we discovered when we got to read the communication from the [chat app].
“This was a name that the criminals actually used themselves to call the girls that helped them with services such as transportation, and maybe stashing something like narcotics, weapons, ammunition, or any important stuff for their criminal business.”
Traditionally, these were girlfriends, sisters and relatives – girls with no previous contact with police.
They were used because “the police didn’t stop them as much.” But that era is over.
“The girls have also developed over time,” dos Santos told The Sun.
“So now we have a different situation, they are more active at delivering the guns, transportation of the firearms, ammunition, and even delivering them straight to people.”
Inside Sweden’s descent into ultra-violence
SWEDEN has become a gangland bloodbath plagued by executions, bomb attacks, and child soldiers rampaging the streets.
More than 30 bombings rocked the country in January alone, mostly around capital Stockholm as ruthless drug gangs vied for supremacy.
Many of those involved are baby-faced hoodlums killing for cash and misplaced street credibility.
Innocent bystanders – including a 12-year-old girl – are being gunned down as a country that was once deemed peaceful and safe becomes a terrifying gangster paradise.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson admitted: “We don’t have control over the wave of violence.”
Sweden has grappled with gang violence for decades but the latest surge has been exceptional – fuelled by notorious druglords dubbed Kurdish Fox and The Greek.
As the conflict between gangs bleeds out of the inner circles and onto the streets, blameless teens are found dead near their family homes after being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Human lives and family homes are being ripped to shreds amid the ongoing gang warfare, as the country chillingly reaches the highest level of children prosecuted for murder since 2019.
Read more here.
Deadly exploitation
A few have even carried out attacks themselves. And gangs exploit that with precision.
Female homicide suspects still account for only about five per cent — but for Sweden, Dr Khoshnood warns, that’s “unusually high.”
Prosecutors warn some girls are no longer just couriers, but they’re choosing the most violent assignments on offer.
One case involved a 15-year-old girl who elected to shoot a target in the head, with a 17-year-old accomplice pulling the trigger, Swedish outlet sistance reported.
Investigators say girls now volunteer for the riskiest missions to prove they’re “tougher” than the boys.
This shift is happening as Sweden slides deeper into a violent era, with explosions, shootings, and child hitmen who barely know how to hold a gun.
And now, girls who until recently wouldn’t have dreamed of breaking a rule, let alone breaking a rival’s door down with a bomb.
Napalm plot
One of them was Olivia, a 17-year-old recruited over social media by an overseas gangster, who urgently needed a napalm attack.
She went shopping for petrol, cans, and a common hardware ingredient.
Olivia then mixed the materials into a “batter,” and handed the bags to male accomplices, with CCTV capturing the drop-off.
Later, as her boyfriend messaged to ask how it went, Olivia replied: “Went OK.”
It’s very much about feelings and romance. They are trying to please a guy, to impress.
Dr Ardavan Khoshnood
He sent her a news link about the arson attack, followed by slang for “wild” or “cool.”
She was convicted of aiding and abetting arson, getting one year in prison.
Her case wasn’t an anomaly, it was one of hundreds involving girls aged 15–17 charged with violent gang offences last year.
And investigators believe the true number is far higher.
Why today’s girls say yes
Natalie admitted that this new generation is different from her time.
“Not all girls do it for the glamorous lifestyle,” she said. “In Sweden now, it’s very popular to be criminal. It’s a trend.”
Many of the kids involved “don’t get money, but they don’t care because they want the title of being a criminal.”
Dr Khoshnood confirmed this, adding girls aren’t being dazzled by Scarface fantasies the way boys are, but their motives are tied to relationships.
He explained: “Even when females are involved, it’s very much about feelings and romance. They are trying to please a guy, to impress.”
Dos Santos sees the same thing when girls scroll criminal group chats and accept “assignments” advertised on Snapchat, Signal or WhatsApp.
Some are added to group chats by a friend’s boyfriend, with their entire criminal trajectory beginning with a relationship.
It’s been five years, and I still cry in my sleep
Natalie Klockars,
Dos Santos says the evolution is stark.
Early Green Girls were “more passive,” but gangs now need large operational teams: someone booking apartments, someone moving weapons, someone delivering bombs.
Innocent people can no longer assume safety.
The violence, Dr Khoshnood said flatly, will not fade: “No, I don’t see it phasing out. Quite the contrary.”
What makes the trend especially dangerous, experts say, is that the recruitment method is almost painfully ordinary.
Girls are pulled in through the people closest to them – brothers, boyfriends, or boys they want to impress.
Dr Khoshnood said it is “very much about feelings and romance,” with many girls stepping in simply “because of a boyfriend or a guy they like.”
For gangs, that emotional leverage is a powerful tool.
It allows them to deploy teenagers who have no criminal history, no suspicion attached to their names, and no real understanding of the risks.
Many of the girls say yes not for money or status, but because they believe they are helping someone they care about.
And once they are inside, the work quickly escalates – from stashing weapons to mixing bombs – before they realise the cost.