Smugglers to Norway cause strain on Sweden

Police in western Sweden are kept busy by a large number of illegal shipments of alcohol and cigarettes, believed to be bound for Norway. Despite a great strain on the system, Sweden is obliged to stop the shipments before they reach the Norwegian border.

• Booze and butter boost Norwegians' Swedish spending spree (7 Mar 12)
• Reduced fine in Norway for 'being Swedish' (8 Jan 12)
• Swedes in Norwegian butter smuggling bust (19 Dec 11)

“We have seen a large increase of these kinds of cases lately,” said judge Sverker Tell of the Uddevalla district court to local paper Bohusläningen.

The smugglers, of which twenty in the last two weeks have come from Poland, are driving minivans filled to the brim with thousands of litres of alcohol and cigarettes believed to be bound for the Norwegian black market, according to the paper.

“We have no proof that they are headed for Norway. They don’t really want to talk when we apprehend them,” said Ander Ragnesten at the Uddevalla police.

However, so far everything points to Norway being the destination for the heavily loaded buses. With an increased tax on alcohol, raised by 7 percent over 2011 and 2 per cent at the beginning of 2012 there is a market for cheap booze coming in through Sweden from Poland.

Just last week, seven persons were detained in Swedish town Ljungskile with two vehicles filled to the brim with tobacco and spirits, and according to the paper, the local court is kept busy trying to deal with the cases.

This means an added stress on the Swedish authorities, as the smugglers have to be kept in custody in Sweden pending the investigation. A convicted smuggler will then be sentenced to between three and six months in prison, dependent on how large a consignment was being moved, which also is a strain on Sweden.

However, despite the smuggling being bound for Norway, the Swedish police can’t just let them pass through and tip off the Norwegians’ counterparts.

“You could think that this should happen, but at the same time it is the duty of the police to act when a crime is being committed, so we can’t just let it be,” said Tell to the paper.

And according to the police, it is a question of organized crime on a large scale. One of the reasons that the police are stopping so many more is that police have learned how the smugglers are operating.

“Police are active and know what to look for. These are big bulky shipments, they are not easy to camouflage,” said Ragnesten to the paper.

The Local/rm
Follow The Local on Twitter