Thousands of cash cards in sacks and stacked in cupboards and a multitude of connected mobile phones.

The video, which has been published by the Cyber ​​Police Department of the National Police of Ukraine, shows armed police raiding Russian troll factories, in a nationwide operation dubbed "Bot Factories."

"During the house searches, over 100,000 SIM cards were seized which were used to register fake accounts.

In total, the bot network had more than one and a half million accounts in various social networks, email services and messaging.

Bots were registered to spread inaccuracies and propaganda, pro-Russian stories," the police write in a press release.

A total of 13 troll factories are said to have been shut down in connection with the operation.

"Can assume that a Comviq card was used"

Among the cash cards are packaging from Lycamobile with Swedish text on it and stacks of SIM cards from Swedish Comviq, a brand owned by Tele2.

- We can assume that Comviq cards have been used for something that is criminal activity in this factory, says communications manager Fredrik Hallstan.

According to Per-Erik Nilsson, researcher in information warfare and strategic communication at FOI, many platforms require a phone number to register an account, for example Telegram, which was used a lot during the war.

And according to him, there is value in the fact that information appears to come from more countries than Ukraine.

- It is the classic propagandist thing, to polarize, sow splits or to lay smoke and fog curtains that benefit Russia in various ways, says Per-Erik Nilsson.

Monitors data

After the outbreak of war, Comviq introduced free calls to and from Ukraine, so that people on the run can more easily get in touch with each other.

- If it has been used and exploited by something that could be thought of as criminal activity, we naturally take it very seriously, says Fredrik Hallstan.

In the past, it has been relatively easy to get a SIM card in Sweden without registering.

After 1 August 2022, however, it is no longer possible to buy unregistered and anonymous prepaid cards for mobile phones or mobile broadband.

SVT Nyheter has also contacted Lycamobile for a comment.