The police exchanged automatic weapons for replicas and waited out the owners who were arrested. But the Supreme Court acquitted the men – as the weapons they retrieved were precisely copies and not real automatic carbines. – It has been an effective method for us law enforcement officers, says prosecutor Lisa Dos Santos, who is critical of the verdict. It was in March two years ago that the police found two fully automatic automatic carbines in connection with a house search in a basement storage room in Södertälje. The police seized the weapons, exchanged them for replicas, rigged cameras and microphones – and waited. About four months later, two men, with connections to a criminal network in Södertälje, show up at the basement where the copies are located. According to the police intercept, they were confused by what they found. “Check it’s jammed too” “There’s something wrong with it too, sure” “There’s no stomach at all” “Leave it back brother, we have to leave it back, as it is” “We’ll change the lock” The prosecutor is critical The men could be arrested and later also convicted of attempted extremely serious weapons crime, as well as aiding and abetting the same crime. This week they were acquitted by the Supreme Court on the grounds that they only handled pretend weapons – something prosecutor Lisa Dos Santos is critical of. – I think it’s an unfortunate conclusion you ended up in. It has been an effective method for us law enforcement officers if you find weapons and drug caches, to exchange it and then see who comes to the scene. So that you get a suspect, she says. – Man can of course just seize as well, but then you can’t find out who is behind it and who is responsible, continues Dos Santos. Strömmer can review the law HD writes, among other things, that “danger of the completion of the crime was ruled out because the police took the items seized”. – The Supreme Court has taken aim at the existing practice and said that in these situations they should go free. So I don’t think it’s strange at all, says defense attorney Peter Ataseven. The verdict has been criticized from several quarters, and Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer announces in an interview with Expressen that he wants to review the law. – We should see if we should change the legislation in light of this decision, says Strömmer to the newspaper.
t4-general