A teenager has been arrested in Spain for allegedly leading a hitman service that provided criminal clients with underage assassins.

Spain’s national police force said it had arrested a minor and his parents, all Swedish citizens, in their home in Alicante, from where the son and father operated their alleged murder-for-hire network.

The boy, reported to be just 14, “played a key role in the recruitment and payment of other minors hired to commit murders”, according to a police statement.

He allegedly recruited other youths from Sweden and Denmark on the messaging app Telegram, which he then used to provide details and instructions on targets and organise the delivery of weapons and explosives.