Gold watches, fast cars and designer clothes: Swedish police can now confiscate luxury goods even without specific suspicion of illegal activity. The reform is not well received everywhere…
According to the right-wing conservative government, the law that came into effect on Friday is intended to strengthen action against gang crime. Under controversial new rules, luxury goods can be seized if the owner cannot credibly explain that he bought them legally.
For example, under the new law, the driver of an expensive car would have to give up the luxury car if he is unemployed and cannot explain how much money he paid for the car.
Status symbols as bait
It concerns “status symbols such as watches and cars that people are used to recruit for criminal gangs,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said before the law came into effect. This is “the largest reform in the history of the criminal code”, which was introduced in 1965.
Human rights activists and many lawyers have protested against the law. Above all, they criticize the undermining of the principle of the presumption of innocence. They also criticized the law’s extremely vague requirements for police searches of properties and apartments and for identity checks.
Among the law’s critics was the ombudsman in parliament, who is tasked with ensuring that authorities comply with the law.
Gang fights get out of hand
Kristersson’s conservative government is supported by the ultra-right Sweden Democrats. She took office in 2022 with a promise to, among other things, combat crime in the country, which has been increasing dramatically for years. However, it has not been very successful so far: according to official figures, 53 people were killed in 363 shootings last year.
The violent crimes are increasingly taking place in public places, sometimes involving uninvolved victims such as passers-by. According to researchers, the perpetrators are often young people hired by organized gangs as hitmen because they have not yet reached the age of criminal responsibility of 15 years. The new law on the seizure of luxury goods that came into effect on Friday therefore expressly also applies to people under the age of 15.
Source: Krone
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