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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

Sweden jails best-selling thriller writer for tax evasion

The Stockholm appeals court sentenced Håkan Nesser, one of Sweden's best-selling contemporary thriller writers, to 18 months' jail for tax evasion on Friday. His wife received the same sentence.

Published: 14 June 2024 15:17 CEST
Sweden jails best-selling thriller writer for tax evasion

The court found the couple guilty of not declaring to the tax authorities the transfer of nearly 13 million Swedish kronor ($1.23 million) from companies in Malta between 2013 and 2015.

“We’re in shock and we feel like we’ve been run over by a tank,” Nesser said.

He said he had hired an accountant to manage his financial affairs.

The crime writer was acquitted in the first instance in the spring of 2023.

At the time, the court accepted the author’s argument that the transfers had occurred through ignorance of tax rules.

Nesser has written 48 books that have sold some 20 million copies worldwide.

His first book was published in 1988.

His works, several of which have been adapted for the big screen or for television, have been translated into more than 20 languages.

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