Armed Police Raid Stockholm Poker Club “Krukan” – Players Report Chaos and Guns Drawn

Krukan has operated for years in a basement under a residential building on Södermalm and has been on the authorities’ radar before. Police have previously linked the venue to high-stakes poker games and earlier investigations; a 2020 raid reportedly helped expose a broader scandal involving match-fixing and betting fraud in Swedish and international football. 

During Friday night’s operation, around 80 people were inside the club when officers moved in. Police say the focus of the investigation is suspected gross illegal gambling and serious financial crime, and believed that both individuals with criminal connections and “ordinary people who like to play” were present. 

Across several outlets, authorities have confirmed that multiple people were detained and that three men have been formally arrested on suspicion of serious illegal gambling and aggravated money-laundering–related offences.

All detainees has been released by the time this article was written. Allegedly, only one individual was arrested on venue, the other two suspects were arrested in other areas.

While official statements have so far focused on illegal gambling and organized crime, players and witnesses tell a very different story about what it was like inside Krukan when the tactical unit entered.

Expressen’s (news outlet) reporting, echoed by other outlets, states that officers went into the club with guns drawn. Multiple guests have since contacted the Swedish Poker Federation and poker community channels, describing a chaotic and terrifying scene as heavily armed police flooded the room.

Translated from a statement sent to the federation:

• Stories are pouring in to us at the federation via different channels about how the tactical unit pushed people, body-tackled them and knocked them to the ground, even senior individuals, during the first phase of the raid.
• Well-known poker profiles have sent photos of their faces covered in blood after the police’s aggressive advance.
• We’ve heard accounts of guests running in panic to find cover because they thought a shooting had started, when all they had actually seen were automatic weapons pointed at them. 
• Guests say they were forced to sit for three hours with their palms on their heads while armed officers verbally threatened them.
• Eventually they were lined up like hooligans and escorted out one by one. After being identified and searched, they were released with the information that they would be called as witnesses.

Several attendees describe never being informed that they were suspected of any crime; instead, they say they were told they would later be contacted as witnesses in the case.

"Were they lawfully detained?" is now the question that circulates in the Swedish poker community?

The contrast between the official narrative and the experiences described by guests is stark. Police frame the raid as part of a broad campaign against organized crime and illegal gambling networks, stressing long-term cooperation with Europol on crypto and IT forensics and hinting at links to wider gang environments. (Aftonbladet - news outlet)

At the same time, many of those who ended up face-down on the floor at Krukan saw themselves as hobby players at a local poker club not as criminals in a gang-related operation.
From their perspective, the level of force used inside the venue, including drawn assault rifles, physical takedowns and hours-long mass detention, is wildly disproportionate to sitting in on a card game.

Several in the Swedish poker community are now asking what legal position casual players actually have when a club is targeted:

Prosecutors have confirmed that the wider investigation into suspected illegal gambling and related financial crimes will continue, with digital evidence, seized materials and witness statements now in focus. But regardless of how the case develops against those suspected of running Krukan, the fallout in the poker world is already significant. Photos of bloodied faces, stories of elderly guests being tackled and of players sitting for three hours with their hands on their heads are spreading fast in chats and social media groups.

For many Swedish poker players, this raid is no longer just about whether an underground club broke the gambling law, it has become a flashpoint in a much bigger discussion about how far the state is prepared to go in the name of “cracking down” on poker, and what that means for ordinary people who just came to play cards.