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CUSTOMS

Swedish customs crack cocaine gang plan

Customs officers in Gothenburg have unravelled a scheme that saw cocaine being smuggled into the country from Costa Rica. The gang used stolen identification from pensioners and the disabled to receive drug parcels.

Published: 22 January 2010 11:33 CET
Swedish customs crack cocaine gang plan

Ten members of the mob have been remanded in custody in connection with the case, according to newspaper Göteborgs-Posten.

They were caught with the help of stolen identities from pensioners and people with disabilities who received home-help services in the Gunnared area of the city.

“They even used a dead person’s identification in connection with payments being sent to central America,” customs investigator Dick Henry told GP.

The drugs were packed in small amounts in bottles of nail varnish and sent from Costa Rica to Sweden. It is not yet clear how long the scheme has been running nor the quantity or value of the drugs seized.

During the investigation, Swedish Customs (Tullverket) infiltrated the home-help services and tracked a 36-year-old woman, employed to help with cleaning and cooking duties for the elderly and infirm.

On numerous occasions she signed for parcels, using the address of one of her clients and his driving licence as identification.

The newspaper adds that many members of the gang, who are Gothenburg residents, have recently moved to the city from an unspecified Caribbean country.

”The gang leader was registered in Sweden as recently as March 2009,” Dick Henry added.

A 32-year old man was arrested in January suspected of being the brains behind the scheme, which is believed to be part of a wider international cartel.

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POLITICS

Red-green coalition takes power in Gothenburg

The Social Democrats, Green Party and Left Party have managed to oust the right-wing Moderates from power in Gothenburg, despite failing to strike a coalition deal with the Centre Party.

Published: 28 October 2022 15:34 CEST
Red-green coalition takes power in Gothenburg

The Social Democrats, Left Party and Green Party will now take over the municipality with Jonas Attenius, group leader for the Social Democrats in the city, becoming the new mayor.

“We three parties are ready to together take responsibility for leading Gothenburg,” Attenius wrote to TT. “I am looking forward immensely to leading Gothenburg in the coming years.” 

The three parties will lead a minority government, with 40 out of 81 mandates, meaning it will dependent on mandates from the Centre Party to pass proposals. 

The three parties had hoped to bring the Centre Party into the coalition, but talks fell apart on Monday,  October 24th. 

“We our going into opposition, but our goal is to be an independent, liberal force, which can negotiate both to the left and to the right,” the party’s group leader in Gothenburg, Emmyly Bönfors told the Göteborgs-Posten newspaper. 

The end of talks in Gothenburg leave the Social Democrats leading coalition governments in all three of Sweden’s major cities, with Karin Wanngård appointed Mayor of Stockholm on October 17th. 

The Social Democrats had unbroken control in Malmö since 1994, after they regained power from the Moderates, who controlled the city from 1991-1994, and also from 1985-1988. 

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