A former student assistant employed by the Municipality of Copenhagen goes on trial this week, accused of illegally harvesting personal data from Denmark’s national CPR registry and selling the information to criminal networks — predominantly migrant gangs — who allegedly used it to plan robberies, violent assaults, and an attempted contract killing.
According to the indictment, the 27-year-old man systematically accessed CPR identification numbers, home addresses, and family details of approximately 1,598 individuals while working for the municipality, passing the information to criminal contacts in exchange for payment.
“This is a matter that we are looking at very seriously. It is worrying that there are people in public positions in the state or municipality who assist criminals in running their business,” Police Inspector Henrik Andersen from Denmark’s National Unit for Serious Crime (NSK) told TV 2.
Prosecutors say one of the most serious incidents linked to the data concerns a failed murder plot in the summer of 2024. The defendant allegedly obtained the social security number, address, and family details of a man living in Herning, later passing the information to figures in organized crime.
Two teenage girls from Sweden, aged just 14 and 15, were then reportedly contracted by the migrant gangs to travel to Denmark and kill a man. They did so on June 10, 2024, equipped with a loaded firearm, but the intended victim was not at home.
In additional incidents, prosecutors allege the stolen data was used to identify victims and relatives so criminals could track them down and use severe violence to steal money and valuables.
The trial has also exposed how freely the defendant was able to search Denmark’s Central Personal Register between June 2023 and July 2024 while working in municipal administration. Police believe the defendant knew the information would be used for criminal purposes.
The former municipal employee is additionally charged with attempted complicity in robbery, aggravated assault, and manslaughter. Prosecutors must prove he understood criminal acts could result from the information he sold and accepted that risk.
“This is an unusual case where we have a person with access to trusted systems, which he is accused of using to support criminals. Our society is so trust-based that we give a student assistant that access, and it is serious when you abuse that trust,” Andersen said.
The accused admits to illegally obtaining personal information but denies involvement in attempted murder, robbery, and aggravated assault.
The trial at Copenhagen City Court is scheduled to run for eight days from Monday, with a verdict expected on March 24.
Migrants and their descendants overwhelmingly dominate criminal gangs in Denmark and across wider Scandinavia. A government report published in October 2025 revealed that nearly three-quarters of all people convicted under Denmark’s “gang section” are immigrants or descendants from non-Western countries.
The figures, released by the Ministry of Justice in response to a parliamentary question from Conservative MP Mai Mercado, show that between 2018 and 2025, a total of 213 people were convicted under Section 81a of the Criminal Code — a clause allowing courts to double sentences if an offense is likely to provoke gang violence.
Of those convicted, 54 were of Danish origin, 36 were immigrants from non-Western countries, and 117 were descendants of non-Western immigrants.
