Nearly 200 people, including minors accused of involvement in murder plots, have been arrested over the last six months as part of Europol’s Operational Taskforce (OTF) GRIMM. The operation targets what cops call “violence-as-a-service” – crime crews recruiting kids and teens online to carry out contract killings and other real-world attacks.

“These individuals are groomed or coerced into committing a range of violent crimes, from acts of intimidation and torture to murder,” the European police said on Monday.

GRIMM began in April, and includes investigators from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the UK, plus Europol experts and online service providers.

During its first six months, police involved in this operation arrested 63 people directly involved in carrying out or planning violent crimes, 40 “enablers” accused of facilitating violence-for-hire services, 84 recruiters, and six “instigators,” five of whom the cops labeled “high-value targets.”

Those arrested include three suspects in Sweden and Germany who allegedly shot and killed three people on March 28 in Oosterhout, the Netherlands. 

Two other suspects, aged 26 and 27, were arrested in the Netherlands in October, after allegedly attempting a murder in Tamm, Germany on May 12.

Six people, including a minor, were arrested in Spain on July 1 and accused of planning a murder. Police seized firearms and ammunition and say these arrests prevented a “potential tragedy.”

In June, seven people between the ages of 14 and 26 were arrested or surrendered to Danish authorities after allegedly using encrypted messaging apps to hire other teenagers for contract killings.

All of these arrests occurred amidst what security researchers have described as a “dramatic” increase in cybercrime involving physical violence across Europe. 

One of the most high-profile violence-as-a-service cases happened in January when Ledger co-founder David Balland and his wife, Amandine, were kidnapped in Vierzon, central France.

They were detained separately, and the suspects severed David Balland’s finger, while another Ledger co-founder was contacted with the gang’s ransom demands, which have not been disclosed. 

Many of the criminals involved in recruiting and carrying out these violence-for-hire services are also members of The Com. This is a loosely knit gang, primarily English speakers, involved in several interconnected networks of hackers, SIM swappers, and extortionists.

Their reach has spread across the Atlantic, and over the summer, the FBI warned that a subset of this cybercrime group, called In Real Life (IRL) Com, poses a growing threat to youth.

The FBI’s security bulletin specifically called out IRL Com subgroups that offer swat-for-hire services, in which hoaxers falsely report shootings at someone’s residence or call in bomb threats to trigger massive armed police responses at the victims’ homes. ®