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CRIME

Gothenburg blast: Police identify suspect with ‘no link to criminal gangs’

Police have confirmed that they have identified a suspect for the blast in Gothenburg earlier this week, which forced around 200 people to evacuate their homes and seriously injured four.

Published: 30 September 2021 14:31 CEST
The area around the Gothenburg building hit by the blast cordoned off by police
The area around the building hit by the blast cordoned off by police. Photo: Björn Larsson Rosvall/TT

The detonation occurred shortly before 5am on Tuesday morning, and 16 people were treated in hospital as a result, while residents have not been able to return to their homes.

Police have now issued a warrant for the arrest of a suspect for devastation endangering the public on probable cause (the higher degree of suspicion under Swedish law). The warrant was issued in the suspect’s absence and police have not yet located the person.

“In light of what is known in the investigation, we can say that there is no connection to gang crime,” regional police chief Klas Johansson told a press conference.

He added that the technical investigation had been delayed due to the conditions at the site of the detonation, which made it too difficult for technicians to enter.

Police did not go into any details at the press conference about who the suspect was or what the likely motive behind the act was, but Johansson said: “It is of course very important that we get hold of this person as soon as possible.” Swedish media including SVT Väst cited anonymous sources that said the suspect was a 55-year-old man.

Local newspaper Göteborgs-Posten reports that the Swedish Enforcement Agency had planned to carry out an eviction at the address on Tuesday, which may be linked to the blast.

Police had said on Tuesday that the blast was unlikely to be due to natural causes.

Up until September 15th this year, Swedish police had recorded 60 explosions classified as ‘endangerment of the public’. Many of these blasts are thought to be linked to criminal gang conflicts, but the crime has a relatively low clearance rate meaning the motive and suspects cannot always be identified.

Member comments

  1. So just another regular, ordinary, nameless Swede gathering explosives in his apartment and blowing up buildings before being evicted by police? Makes sense. Total sense. I mean doesn’t everyone in Sweden collect up explosives these days? It’s all the rage, so to speak. Totally normal. Nothing to see here. Move on and ignore the rubble.

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CRIME

How the fine you get in Sweden might be based on your income

There are two main types of fines that you could be given in Sweden: fixed fines which have a set value and fines which vary in value depending on your income. Here’s how they work.

Published: 23 April 2024 14:53 CEST
How the fine you get in Sweden might be based on your income

How do fines work in Sweden?

The two most common types of fine are penningböter (a fixed amount of money) and dagsböter (which vary depending on your income and the severity of the crime committed).

There is a third type of fine, normerade böter, which are rare. These are usually calculated based on some aspect of the crime committed – like the value of an item stolen or damaged, or the horsepower of a motor involved in the crime, for example.

Who can issue these fines?

Fines in Sweden can be issued by four different authorities: the courts, the police, customs and the coast guard. 

Things like parking fines, fines for using public transport and library fines do also exist, but, legally speaking, they’re technically fees – kontrollavgifter or straffavgifter, rather than fines – böter. This is important, as true fines will leave you with a mark on your criminal record, while fees do not (although if you don’t pay them you may be issued with a black mark on your credit record).

Police and customs issue a type of penningböter (fixed fines) which are known as ordningsböter. If you’re given one of these fines and you admit to the crime straight away, then you essentially skip going through the courts and your fine is issued directly by the police instead of being issued by a judge in court. 

Ordningsböter can be issued for things like not being able to present your drivers licence or other ID when you’re driving a car (500 kronor), not having insurance on your moped (500 kronor), or antisocial behaviour in public spaces through, for example, urinating (800 kronor) or playing loud music (1,000 kronor).

As a general rule, fixed fines are issued for less serious crimes. They can vary in size from a minimum of 200 kronor to a maximum of 4,000 kronor per crime, while the maximum amount which can be issued at one time for multiple crimes is 10,000 kronor. These fines vary in size depending on the severity of the crime rather than the income of the person who has committed it.

Income-based fines or dagsböter (literally: “daily fines”) are issued for more serious crimes, like grievous bodily harm, theft, animal abuse, damage to property or taking pictures of classified buildings, so you’re not going to be issued one just for driving slightly over the speed limit.

How are dagsböter calculated?

They’re made up of two numbers. The first is the amount of fines issued, which varies depending on the severity of the crime (between 30 and 150, or 200 if they are being sentenced to fines for multiple crimes at once), and the second is the value of each fine, which depends on the income of the person charged, but must be between 50 and 1,000 kronor.

This means that the lowest possible daily fine is 30 fines of 50 kronor each, or 1,500 kronor, while the highest is 200 fines of 1,000 kronor each, or 200,000 kronor.

As a general rule, one daily fine is meant to be equivalent to one thousandth of the yearly income of the person charged, taking into account other aspects of their personal finances like debts, savings and anyone else they have to support financially. This means that two people committing the same crime can be sentenced to different fines.

Let’s say two people get in a fight and are sentenced to 80 daily fines each. The first one has no income, so their fine value is set at the minimum (50 kronor per daily fine) meaning they pay a total of 4,000 kronor. The other has a high yearly income, so their daily fine is set to 500 kronor, putting their total fine at 40,000 kronor, despite being sentenced for exactly the same crime.

Despite the name, daily fines are not paid by day, but they’re paid as a lump sum within 30 days from the date at which the sentence becomes legally binding. If the perpetrator of a fine refuses to pay, their fine will be passed on to the Enforcement Agency (Kronofogden), who have the power to seize and sell their assets to cover it.

If they refuse to pay the fine despite being financially able to, they can be sentenced to prison for anywhere between two weeks to three months.

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