Published: Just now
When the Prime Minister’s right-hand man, State Secretary PM Nilsson, was questioned by the police last month, he lied about the eel fishing and claimed that he was looking for trash and broken glass.
He had given the same lie to the fisheries inspectors 1.5 years earlier.
As late as January 2, he called the police and admitted to poaching – but says it was “mostly to see if there are as many eels as people claim”.
It was pure coincidence that State Secretary PM Nilsson was caught poaching. The two fisheries inspectors from the Maritime and Water Authority were on a routine mission on 9 October 2021 to search for unmarked gear when they saw a man in a boat and a green fishing box.
The controllers found it strange that the man drove to an area they searched, and decided to follow at a distance.
From a cliff, they could clearly see how the man pulled four eels out of the water and put them in the boat, then turned back to where he came from.
Got suspicions
The man turned out to be PM Nilsson and when the fisheries inspectors stopped him, he had hidden the Russian eels under his green fishing bag, according to the police’s interrogation of the inspectors.
PM Nilsson then allegedly claimed that he was on his way to the Bollö Islands to pick up trash, and that he saw the Russian eels in the water and decided to pick them up in the boat. For fear of drifting ashore, he had not yet had time to release the eel back into the water.
“The man replied that the reason was that he was afraid that he would drift towards land with the boat,” the investigation states.
But the inspectors became suspicious as the weather was sunny, fine and calm.
Suspicions were strengthened when PM Nilsson started tying the weights away from the Russians and asked if the inspectors also needed to confiscate them.
The four Russians were seized, while the eel was released back into the water. The catch was 15 eels weighing a total of 11 kilos.
On Facebook, Prime Minister Nilsson has defended himself by saying that he found the situation embarrassing and therefore denied that the Russians were his.
When the police called him a month ago, on December 20, he had held the post of Secretary of State since October, and the lies continued.
He told the police that he had been cleaning Bollöarna for a long time, which was noticed in the local press.
“He mainly cleans away plastic waste, but also finds glass and old fishing gear,” reads the interview with the state secretary.
Wanted to see how many eels there were
On the occasion in question he had gone out to collect broken glass, he claimed.
“Just as he was about to start sorting out the Russians to be able to throw back the eels, personnel from the Maritime and Water Authority arrived,” claimed PM Nilsson in the police interrogation.
Just 13 days later, on January 2, PM Nilsson called the police again and confessed to the crime.
In the new interrogation, he said that he had put the Russians out himself and that they had been in the water for a few days.
In the interrogation PM Nilsson claims that he posted the Russians “mostly to check if there were as many eels as people claim”.
Aftonbladet has unsuccessfully sought PM Nilsson as well as Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson for a comment.
Facts
PM Nilsson’s defense on Facebook
In the late summer of 2021, I took up four Russians in the Karlskrona archipelago. I put them in the boat and started driving around a headland so as not to slide into the rocks and to lie leeward so I could untangle the fishing gear and throw the small eels back into the sea. Another boat with two men suddenly came towards me. They drove at high speed, laid down next to my smaller rowing boat and asked if they were my Russians. I didn’t understand who they were. They had no sign of boat or clothing that they came from an authority. I interpreted them as claiming the Russians, they were quite offensive, and to avoid conflict I said that I found them here and that the Russians were not mine. After a few minutes of dialogue, the two men stated that they came from the Norwegian Sea and Water Authority. I should have said then that it was my tools but the situation was so embarrassing and surprising that I continued to deny. They took names and social security numbers and confiscated tools and fish. Then I didn’t hear from them or anyone else until almost a year and a half later when a friendly man from the Karlskrona Police called in the days before Christmas. I thought the matter was out of this world and was surprised, did not have time to think clearly and maintained my denial. I shouldn’t have done that, it’s better to say it like it is. When the Christmas weekend was over, I called the man at the Karlskrona Police and changed my details. The Russians were mine and I will of course take a penalty order for breaking the Fisheries Act.
I have been fishing for eels since childhood and belong to the southern Swedish eel fishing culture. Laying a few Russians used to be a natural part of the summer, but is now prohibited for private individuals. According to the Norwegian Sea and Water Authority’s measurements, there are signs that the eel population is pleasingly growing in Swedish waters. One day you might be able to add Russians again, but not now. I apologize for the extra work I caused at the Maritime and Water Authority and at the police. They have more important things to do and it is important that everyone follows the law.
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