Anna Karolina Eriksson/TT
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A signal cannon that is suspected to have been picked up by wreck looters outside Öland. Archive image. Photo: Police Preliminary Investigation
The men were stopped at sea by the Coast Guard – in a boat full of picked-up antiquities. Later, a large collection of maritime history items was also found at their home.
The district court sentenced them to a suspended sentence and community service for grave antiquities violations – now the Göta Court of Appeal is toughening the sentence.
The coast guard revealed the men on a July day in 2020, when they were stopped in their boat off Öland with diving equipment to dry. When the authority took a closer look at the cargo, several wooden objects were also discovered that were suspected to be antiquities, and later a large collection of naval historical objects, such as an iron cannon from the 17th century, was found at the home of the three men.
The Kalmar District Court ruled that the punishment for the gross antiquities crime was between three and twelve months in prison, but since they had previously been unpunished, the sentence was converted to a suspended sentence and community service. A fourth man was given a suspended sentence and daily fines. Now the Court of Appeal toughens the sentence and sentences three men to prison for 1 year and 4 months, 1 year and 2 months and 1 year respectively. The fourth man’s sentence is fixed.
The men, who are in their 60s, have denied any crime and claimed that many of the objects were so-called loose finds, meaning that they had not been found in connection with any wreck or any collection of objects and that it was therefore not illegal to pick them up them.