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CRIME

Millions in cannabis money passed through Copenhagen exchange bureau

A currency exchange bureau in Copenhagen handled as much as 57 million kroner in turnover from criminal activities. The bureau’s director faces a prison sentence.

Published: 12 April 2019 12:52 CEST
Millions in cannabis money passed through Copenhagen exchange bureau
File photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

Copenhagen City Court on Friday sentenced the director of the bureau, Abbas Mohamad-Baker, with a four-year unconditional prison sentence for possession of stolen goods and attempted possession of stolen goods.

A large portion of the sum was garnered from the illegal cannabis trade – evoking images of hit DR television series Bedrag (Follow the Money), which depicts organised crime and money laundering in the Danish capital, including through an exchange bureau.

The rest of the cash that passed through the bureau was gained through other forms of crime, the prosecution said.

The court concluded that the accused was aware of the illegal nature of the funds he was handling.

Mohamad-Baker, 56, shook his head upon leaving the court, according to Ritzau’s report. The man’s lawyer Khuram Riaz confirmed that the sentence will be appealed.

READ ALSO: Five Danish political parties support legalisation of cannabis

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CRIME

Danish government backs removing children from gang-connected families

Denmark’s government wants authorities to be able to move children out of families in which parents are gang members and is likely to formalise the measure in parliament.

Published: 9 April 2024 13:38 CEST
Danish government backs removing children from gang-connected families

The justice spokesperson with senior coalition partner the Social Democrats, Bjørn Brandenborg, told regional media TV2 Fyn that he wants authorities to have the power to remove children from their families in certain circumstances where the parents are gang members.

Brandenborg’s comments came on Monday, after Odense Municipality said it had spent 226 million kroner since 2009 on social services for eight specific families with gang connections.

“There is simply a need for us to give the authorities full backing and power to forcibly remove children early so we break the food chain and the children don’t become part of gang circles,” he said.

The measure will be voted on in parliament “within a few weeks”, he said.

An earlier agreement on anti-gang crime measures, which was announced by the government last November, includes provisions for measures of this nature, Brandenborg later confirmed to newswire Ritzau.

“Information [confirming] that close family members of a child or young person have been convicted for gang crime must be included as a significant and element in the municipality’s assessment” of whether an intervention is justified, the agreement states according to Ritzau.

The relevant part of November’s political agreement is expected to be voted on in parliament this month.

READ ALSO: Denmark cracks down on gang crime with extensive new agreement

Last year, Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard told political media Altinget that family relations to a gang member could be a parameter used by authorities when assessing whether a child should be forcibly removed from parents.

In the May 2023 interview, Hummelgaard called the measure a “hard and far-reaching measure”.

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