– Now it looks much better. We see a downward trend when it comes to dog smuggling, says Håkan Hansson, deputy head of the Swedish Customs Service.
During the pandemic, there was a peak in the number of smuggled dogs being stopped, but since then it has decreased.
• 2021 – 523 cases
• 2022 – 552 cases
• 2023 – 326 cases
• 2024 (June 30) – 188 cases
It is the Customs Service that finds the dogs at the border, but it is the Swedish Board of Agriculture that, with the help of district veterinarians, decides what to do.
During the pandemic, the Swedish Customs Service was critical of how the cooperation between these authorities worked. Now it has gotten better.
The block has introduced Bank ID
Many of the smuggled dogs have been sold at Blocket, but there they have now introduced identification with a Bank ID for sellers of dogs.
– A case involving dog smuggling takes a lot of time. If the dogs are then to be euthanized, it is emotionally difficult for a customs official who is involved in the euthanasia. It also means operationally that we can focus on other things, says Håkan Hansson.