According to the insurance industry, stolen, insured goods from Sweden worth more than SEK 1.5 billion are exported every year.

Against this background, the government has proposed that the Swedish Customs should be given increased powers to intervene when the authority suspects that people are about to bring stolen goods out of the country - which the authority does not receive today.

The proposal has been sent for consultation and on 1 July it is intended that the change in the law will take effect.

But the insurance industry's industry organization Svensk försäkring and their subsidiary Larmtjänst believe that the proposal will be toothless because the Swedish Customs is limited to ordinary customs controls that almost only concern goods that are on their way into the country.

- It is the case that Sweden is a country that is particularly exposed to the ravages of the theft leagues.

The most effective way to stop the theft leagues is to raise the thresholds at our borders.

Therefore, we believe that random random checks would have a major deterrent effect, says Mats Galvenius, CEO of Alarm Service, which works to combat insurance-related crime.

No increase in export controls

The Swedish Customs, on the other hand, is positive to the proposal that they should be given the opportunity to intervene against crimes that they otherwise do not have the authority to investigate.

At the same time, the authority writes in its response to the consultation that the proposal will not entail any increase in export controls.

In 2019, the Swedish Customs carried out 24,924 inspections of means of transport, but only 350 of them were export inspections.

- If we were to be given an expanded assignment, it would require greatly strengthened resources, and that is basically a political issue, says Karin Erlingsson, legal director at the Swedish Customs.

According to Minister of Finance Magdalena Andersson (S), it is not relevant to give the Swedish Customs a new assignment and introduce random random checks.

“The new authority is about intervening against crimes that the Swedish Customs detects within the framework of its ordinary activities.

Working with intelligence-based is judged to be most effective ", writes Magdalena Andersson in an email.

"Controls when traveling to other EU countries must not be designed in such a way that the selection of what and who is checked is random."