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A ten-second video of guys packing cannabis – or is it props for a music video?
– I would post it on Tiktok to get a lot of views, said the suspect in court.
Neither the district court nor the court of appeals bought the declaration.
A light rain fell this Thursday evening in Western Sweden at the end of March last year. A police patrol spotted a guy who appeared to be handing drugs to a man outside the gate of a residential building.
Both were searched. The buyer had amphetamines, hashish and testosterone on him. According to the police, the seller appeared high. He was red-eyed and nervous. He also had a key on him.
– It goes to my home address where I live with my parents, he said.
The patrol went into the house and up the stairs until they smelled a strong smell of cannabis. The key that the suspected seller was carrying fit perfectly into the lock.
191 grams of cannabis, 78 grams of amphetamine, 2.5 tablets of tramadol, three grams of cannabis resin, ten tablets of MDMA and 1.6 grams of cocaine were found in the apartment.
Another guy in his 20s was also in the apartment – also red-eyed with slurred speech. Both men were arrested.
“Nothing to do with the stuff that was seized”
Their mobile phones were emptied and in one a video filmed in the apartment was found:
“Ramadan, brother,” says one man in the video while switching from selfie to front camera. The video shows him laughing to the point of squinting while filming a large amount of cannabis on a tin. Another guy packs the weed into little resealable bags. Then you can see an unopened multipack with “grinders” on the left in the picture, tools used to crumble marijuana, and more bags on the right.
– This video I took. The stuff that was there has nothing to do with the stuff that has been seized. It was CBDCBDCBD stands for cannabidiol. A substance that comes from hemp and is not classified as a narcotic in Sweden. which I have ordered from Wish, he said as filmed in court.
Music video with guns and drugs
According to the man, the purpose was to record a music video.
– I have collected many videos on weapons to make a music video and post on Tiktok. That way I can make money so the record company I’m involved in is doing well, he explains.
The then 23-year-old guy describes himself as an artist who paints a picture, just like you do with a painting. The difference is that his canvas is gangster rap.
– It’s art, sometimes you paint that you’re a murderer. Although you are not. It is included in the music.
Neither the District Court nor the Court of Appeal bought the explanation.
The three men were sentenced this year for drug offences. The seller to prison for one year and one month. The man in the apartment got eight months and the man packing the drugs in the video got community service.
Music video – increasingly common excuse
Arguing that clips of drug crimes should be part of music videos has become increasingly common.
– These people are very creative and adapt their rhetoric to what is happening and happening. They see what loopholes there are that they can use, says Botkyrka municipal police Martin Lazar.
– Of course they do it in consultation with their lawyers.
– You know that the music industry is not so clean. Gangster rap has real connections to gang crime. Then you can claim that “this is fake stuff”, when in fact it is probably real.
In this case the guys were convicted despite this explanation, what do you think?
– Yes, fortunately. I think it is good that these simpler explanations of evidence are not taken into account, concludes municipal police officer Martin Lazar.
FACTS
Crime scene Tiktok
Research: Matilda Andersson, Johan Sjunnesson and Cecilia Vaccari
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