There are fears gangland violence is also a serious danger to innocent members of the public.
“The involvement in criminal gangs of younger and inexperienced hitmen and the accessibility of firearms and explosives, together with violent incidents often perpetrated in crowded public places and broad daylight are considerable threats to public security,” it said.
There has been a rise in the number of violent incidents associated with serious and organised crime over the last few years, it was added.
Citing the case in Holland in where last July police found a number of shipping containers had been converted into torture chambers, the violence has also become more visible.
Crime Correspondent
Organised crime groups are becoming more violent and increasingly using lethal violence which represents a threat to public security in the European Union.
That s the warning from a new report entitled The use of violence by organised crime groups’ published by Europol, the European law enforcement agency.
The report has also found that while violence by criminal gangs in Europe is increasing, the cost of contract killings has dropped.
Cheaper contract killings
The cost of a contract killing varies in different European countries depending on who is doing it and where it is being done. However, Europol says it is now becoming cheaper to have someone killed. The cost for a contract killing varies between €10,000 and €100,000 based on figures supplied by different European law enforcement agencies but a hit currently costs much less than previously because more and more inexperienced and younger criminals are willing to carry them out.
There are fears that reckless gangland violence is also a serious danger to innocent members of the public.
“The involvement in criminal gangs of younger and inexperienced hitmen and the accessibility of firearms and explosives, together with violent incidents often perpetrated in crowded public places and broad daylight are considerable threats to public security,” it reported.
There has been a rise in the number of violent incidents associated with serious and organised crime over the last few years, it was added.
Citing the case in Holland in where last July police found a number of shipping containers had been converted into torture chambers, the violence has also become more visible.