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CRIME

Can CCTV curb drug runs between Sweden and Norway?

Surveillance cameras are set to be installed along the border between Sweden and Norway in an effort to catch drug traffickers, after a trial run resulted in treble the amount of drug runs being busted.

Can CCTV curb drug runs between Sweden and Norway?
File photo of a CCTV camera in Sweden. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT

The equipment was first tested by Norwegian customs at the boundary between Sweden’s western Värmland region and Hedmark in Norway.

And the cameras will now be rolled out on all passable roads between the two countries, SVT Värmland reports.

“We get a different view of what is moving over our border crossings. It has been really effective when it comes to stopping the large-scale movement of narcotics, alcohol and cigarettes,” Morten Nystuen, the head of customs in Norwegian town Kongsvinger, told SVT.

More than 400 kilos of narcotics and 150,000 litres of alcohol have been seized with the help of the CCTV trial since last summer.

Cameras are due to be set up along the entire border over the course of the next year. In total around 130 million Norwegian kronor (140 million Swedish kronor/$15.7 million) will be invested in the equipment.

Sweden is generally wary of CCTV compared to other countries. Earlier this year an appeals court ruling was required for police to be granted permission to install cameras in two Stockholm suburbs in an effort to monitor crime.

CRIME

Three injured in suspected knife attack in central Sweden

At least three people have been injured in a suspected knife attack which took place in broad daylight in the centre of Västerås in central Sweden on Friday afternoon.

Three injured in suspected knife attack in central Sweden

Police were called to the scene at shortly before 1.30pm on Friday after several women who Swedish police described as “elderly” were found injured with stab wounds. 

The man suspected of attacking the three women, who is reportedly in his late 20s, was later shot by police. According to Region Västmanland he is “seriously injured”.

“They have been injured with a sharp object but whether it is a knife or something else, we do not know right now,” Tobias Ahlén-Svalbro, a spokesperson from the local police told Sweden’s public broadcaster SVT. 

The three women have been taken to hospital, with one, in her 70s, described as having serious injuries. The others’ injuries are less severe.

“We are investigating two crime scenes,” Ahlén-Svalbro said. “As far as I understand the situation, two of them were injured in one area and the other somewhere else, but both areas are in central Västerås.”

The police have opened an investigation into aggravated assault, he added.

“We have already received several witness statements and would like to hear from any other witnesses who have seen or heard something.”

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