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CRIME

Swede stopped at 98kmh on souped-up electric bicycle

A man in Sweden was stopped by police after hitting close to 100kmh on an electric bicycle he had souped up with an engine more than 15 times as powerful as permitted under Swedish law.

Published: 9 April 2018 17:12 CEST
Swede stopped at 98kmh on souped-up electric bicycle
The Enduro is one of a number of Chinese-made e-bikes on the market. File photo: Enduro
The 40-year-old was stopped on Monday while riding along a road in the central city of Linköping, with the police car which apprehended him having to accelerate to 98kmh to catch up. 
 
“It was life-threatening,” Björn Goding from the local police told Linköping News. “The bicycle probably didn’t have a frame built for such speed, and the brakes didn’t work either.” 
 
The bicycle had two power modes, 1KW and 4KW, according to the local daily, which would put it well beyond the permitted limits of an electric bicycle. 
 
According to Swedish vehicle regulations an electric bicycle should run on a maximum of 250w, and have a maximum speed of 25kmh. 
 
An electric light motorcycle, however, is permitted to have up to 11kw of power under Swedish law, but must  be registered as such in order to be driven on Swedish roads, which this vehicle was not. 
 
The man is facing potential charges of both “serious illegal” and “careless” driving. 
 
He reportedly bought the vehicle on the Blocket website, a popular classifieds site in Sweden. 
 
At the time of publication, Blocket had several high-powered e-bikes for sale with similar specifications to the one the man was riding, but they were recommended for off-road use only. 

CRIME

Illegal Swedish strawberry sales raise billions of kronor for organised crime

Swedish police have carried out raids on strawberry vendors suspected of being linked to gang crime.

Published: 17 June 2024 10:07 CEST
Illegal Swedish strawberry sales raise billions of kronor for organised crime

Police told Dagens Nyheter that the raids were connected to one of Sweden’s most wanted gang leaders, Ismail Abdo, nicknamed Jordgubben (“The Strawberry”).

In a statement police said they had “hit a central violent actor by targeting individuals around this person and their business structures”.

Raids were carried out in Bergslagen, as well as the Mitt and Stockholm police regions.

It’s suspected that these sellers had been marketing Belgian strawberries as Swedish and using the revenue to fund serious organised crime. Police also found children under the legal working age and migrants without legal residency permits working at the stalls.

Police believe that illegal strawberry sales turn over billions of kronor every year.

“We’ve carried out multiple actions together with other authorities,” Per Lundbäck, from the Bergslagen policing region, told Swedish news agency TT. “By cutting off the finances off this type of organised crime, we can weaken gangs’ financing and their ability to carry out crimes.”

To avoid buying strawberries linked to crime, Lundbäck recommends paying attention to the company you buy your strawberries from.

“The first thing you can do is look at the number the (mobile phone payment app) Swish payment goes to, to make sure it’s a company number starting with 123, and not a private number,” he said.

Most companies will have their Swish number displayed somewhere on the stand, so you should be able to check this even if you don’t have the app and are paying with card, for example.

He also added that you can pay attention to the age of the person selling the strawberries, describing very young sellers as a “red flag”.

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