Response to interpellation 2023/24:196 on the safety of Swedish customs personnel

Finansministern Elisabeth Svantesson (M)

Madam Speaker! I wished Isak From a pleasant weekend. I will have to do it once more a bit later. I regret my confusion. But it can, in any case, never be wrong to wish someone a pleasant weekend.

Madam Speaker! Richard Jomshof has asked me what I think about the reports that have emerged in the media, where staff at the Swedish Customs have expressed criticism of their agency's leadership, and whether I will take action on the matter.

Sweden is in a state of emergency. Crime has systematically infiltrated large parts of our society and leads to ruthless violence. The criminal economy that feeds organized crime must be strangled. The Swedish Customs Service is on the front line in that work. The authority's seizure of, among other things, drugs and weapons is a major contribution in the fight against serious crime.

Many customs officers are in a vulnerable position. Customs officers in outer service have a particularly vulnerable position, and they do not know whom they will encounter during their workday. I take the customs officers' anxiety very seriously.

Every person in Sweden, regardless of where they work, should feel safe at their workplace. At the same time, it is the management of the Swedish Customs and Excise Administration that has the ultimate responsibility for the staff's safety. However, the Government is actively working to improve the safety situation for the employees of the Swedish Customs and Excise Administration. For example, against the background of the exceptional development of violence that has occurred, the Government has tasked the Swedish Customs and Excise Administration with reviewing and reporting on the trade-offs the authority has made regarding the need for equipment, including weapons, for the employees at the authority.

I also welcome that the agency's management is now conducting a review of the possibility of armament during controls, which is to be completed in the beginning of 2024.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Richard Jomshof (SD)

Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.

The Swedish Customs is one of our most important agencies, not least considering that one, of course, tries to prevent the import of illegal weapons and drugs into Sweden.

The personnel strength has, however, been underdimensioned for a long time. But it is not only this that is the problem. The customs inspectors are expected many times to intervene against grossly criminal persons without having access to service weapons.

In the middle of October, the media reported on an internal letter, signed by all 24 group managers within the Customs Administration's control operations in the South region, in which very sharp criticism is directed at the Director General of Customs. In the letter, the group managers point out several clear deficiencies while describing the agency's development as a major danger to Sweden.

In the letter, one can read, among other things, that the staff have been instructed to back down, that is, to yield, in situations judged to be dangerous. However, no examples are given of what situations it would in that case involve. This is obviously serious. Especially considering that the purpose is to prevent drugs and illegal weapons from being brought into Sweden, it is serious that the staff receive orders to yield and withdraw when the situation so requires.

A concrete example is also mentioned where an unarmed control group found 370 kilos of cannabis in a truck with tracking devices in Helsingborg. The group feared that the smugglers could attempt to take back the narcotics and called for the police's special forces. It took seven hours before they were on site.

One also points out that seized narcotics worth hundreds of millions are stored in premises that are not protected sites and where, among others, craftsmen and service personnel have access.

One also accuses the Director General of Customs of lying, which is serious. One accuses her of sugarcoating the situation in the media and hiding behind subordinate managers. Already a year ago, one turned to her and pointed out these serious deficiencies, and nothing has happened.

Customs personnel are often exposed to great risks and sometimes even direct life-threatening danger. In view of this, demands are put forward in this letter, among other things, for better staffing. Demands are put forward for better security and, of course, armament for the customs personnel. After this was highlighted in the media, group managers in region East, the Stockholm area, have chosen to give their unreserved support to colleagues in region South. Here in the Stockholm area, it has also been decided to stop intervening on intelligence regarding weapons or dangerous persons and instead forward these matters to the police. It is, naturally, an unsustainable situation.

It is clear that it is good that one has been tasked with reviewing and reporting on the trade-offs one has made and those one intends to make or is making today, not least regarding equipment - including weapons - for the employees. But I still hope that the government and the minister have an opinion on the matter, and it would be interesting to hear it here today. I also believe that it would have been important.

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Eric Westroth (SD)

Madam Speaker! It pleases me – and I am not exactly surprised – that the Minister for Finance, in his response, cares about the Customs Service's staff and their safety. I also read that the Minister for Finance, together with the Prime Minister, has visited the Customs Service in Gothenburg, so I am convinced that the Minister for Finance has personally been made aware of the requests that the Customs Service's staff have.

The Customs is a relatively small agency with not particularly high funding levels. It has received successively increased appropriations in recent years, but it has been neglected for a long time. Moving forward, substantial investments in the agency would be needed. At the same time, Swedish politicians and ordinary citizens have high expectations of the Swedish Customs and its work and staff. In addition to ensuring that the correct duties are paid for goods entering Sweden and the EU, it is expected that the agency will pursue and find illegal goods that criminals attempt to smuggle into the country.

Among the most serious are the attempts to smuggle in weapons and narcotics that the criminal networks in Sweden need and which they use to finance their activities. Unfortunately, we have seen that the availability of illegal weapons is good in Sweden. I want to point out that these rarely originate from legal gun owners, unless it concerns automatic weapons and handguns which often originate in conflict zones, for example the war in the Balkans in the 90s.

Now another war is taking place in our immediate vicinity where military weapons appear in a scale that we have not seen since the Balkan conflict. Already there are indications that criminal gangs in Sweden are being offered to buy weapons from Ukraine, which is a problem that will likely increase and be persistent in Europe and Sweden for decades to come.

When it comes to drug smuggling, Customs is making more and larger seizures. It is naturally positive that Customs makes these seizures and prevents the drugs from reaching the street. If the amount of drugs in the seizures is becoming larger, there may, however, be reason to assume that the smugglers consider it to be a relatively small risk that the drugs will get caught in Customs' filters. If they believed the risk of detection was high, they would rather send more and smaller shipments, but the statistics unfortunately suggest the opposite.

We have been able to read in the media that there is a great amount of dissatisfaction among the Customs Administration's inspection staff and that they have sent a letter to the Customs Administration's management. I hope that the Minister for Finance has received the letter. I have personally read a redacted version as the letter is deemed to be covered by secrecy.

The letter states that, above all, three things are requested: that customs officers shall be given the opportunity to carry service weapons to a greater extent due to the increased threat level, that the premises where narcotics and weapons are stored shall be given a better level of protection to prevent any attempts to reclaim seized goods, and that the number of employees shall be increased so that there is a reasonable chance of having more employees on site during more of the hours of the day and thereby better be able to do what we expect.

Therefore, I wonder if the Minister for Finance and the Government are prepared to make the changes and the additional funds that would be needed to meet the desires that the staff express in the letter.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Finansministern Elisabeth Svantesson (M)

Madam Speaker! I would like to thank the interpellor for these questions, which are enormously important. Let me just start by zooming out a bit.

Sweden is in a state of emergency. In recent years, serious crime and brutality have grown ever stronger. Children walk around with automatic weapons in Sweden, and in some cases, children kill other children. There is an image I cannot get out of my mind: I read about the 13-year-old boy who was found in a grove of trees, murdered because he did not want to be part of a criminal gang. This is about a young boy in Sweden in 2023. A few years ago, we probably did not believe or see that it would go that far.

The emergency also means that politics must definitely meet this challenge in order to reverse the development, and our four parties agree on that. It is incredibly important. Even when we were in opposition, our parties – Sverigedemokraterna, Kristdemokraterna, and Moderaterna – agreed on several occasions on more money for the police, the justice system, and customs. But more will be needed moving forward for these agencies to be able to do what they are tasked to do.

Speaking of the harshness and brutality, it is obvious that the Customs Service's personnel today face different situations than they did five, ten, or fifteen years ago. As the person responsible for the Customs Service, I feel an enormous responsibility precisely so that the authority has the tools and resources it needs and that we truly listen when it comes to this.

Right now, we are working on a referral to the Council of Legislation of the first partial report from the Customs Authority Investigation. It is an investigation that looks at giving customs personnel more powers, for example, expanded powers to use force. As I mentioned earlier, we have also, due to the security situation, tasked the Swedish Customs Service to review the need for equipment – including weapons – for the employees here and now. In what way would weapons be used and in which cases?

These are important parts, and these are important steps that we are taking. I am convinced that it is possible to reverse a development, but then one must both speak plainly and give all relevant authorities the tools and resources that are needed.

With this said: I take the question very seriously. I take the question of the customs staff's safety and security very seriously. I can also take the opportunity, as I was reminded by Eric Westroth, to mention the visit to Gothenburg and the fantastic work that the customs staff does all over Sweden. They are committed, efficient, and smart employees who do a fantastic job in order to be part of the work against the criminal economy. The customs are needed, and other authorities are needed. Fantastic employees do fantastic things.

I have, however, heard and seen many people's concern, and I take it most seriously.

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Richard Jomshof (SD)

Madam Speaker! I naturally agree that the customs staff do a fantastic job and that the work they perform is extremely important. That is precisely why it is also incredibly important to listen to them and to try to give them the tools they need to perform their job in a safe and good way.

Since we are having this debate and discussion, I would like to take the opportunity to remind that this is not a new discussion. Similar criticism has been put forward for very many years.

Already in the summer of 2013, that is more than ten years ago, information emerged – I believe it was in Svenska Dagbladet – stating that customs inspectors deliberately chose to back away because they saw that there were people in the car who could be dangerous and who probably had weapons. We hear about 13-year-old youths using automatic weapons. These weapons have entered the country precisely through smuggling and by perhaps choosing to back away at such an occasion. Therefore, the situation is so incredibly serious.

The customs officers work, just like the police, against serious organized crime. In the summer of 2013, the Polisförbundet's then chief safety representative Erling Staxäng was asked in Svenska Dagbladet whether the police would choose to intervene in such a situation, that is, if one was not armed. He said: We really would not do that – we would have backed away. He also said: As chief safety representative, I would never want to hear that someone did. You never know what situation you will encounter.

It is this that is unreasonable. The police say that they would never intervene, but we demand and expect that the customs inspectors should do so. It is clear that this is an extremely problematic situation.

In connection with the terrorist attack in 2017, which you may remember, another deficiency was highlighted, namely that customs inspectors do not carry service weapons. The Police Authority then requested support from customs officers at Arlanda, but there was no possibility to provide that support because they had no possibility of carrying weapons. At that point, the safety representative chose to make the decision to send the personnel home. It is, of course, an extremely problematic situation when it turns out that way.

I really want to emphasize that we cannot accept that violent criminals expect it is possible to bring weapons and drugs into Sweden, which my fellow party member Eric Westroth was touching upon. That seizures are sometimes made and that they lose some weapons or drugs is something they count on, because they know that there are still so many shipments that can get through.

We must become much better at preventing them and stopping them already at the border. If there is anything that is preventive, it is to ensure that the weapons and the drugs are stopped already at the border. If the weapons do not enter the country, the availability of the weapons used in settlements decreases. If the drugs do not enter the country, the availability of the drugs that they sell to obtain money and finance their continued activities decreases.

It is clear that this is an incredibly important issue, and I know that the government takes it most seriously. That is pleasing. The issue is important, and I will do what I can to ensure that we reach all the way through and that they get what they demand, for example that the staffing is increased to a sufficiently large extent.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Eric Westroth (SD)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister for Finance, for the answers!

We have been able to read in the media that the Swedish Customs Service, during the autumn, has conducted its own review of armament and protective equipment for its staff. It was to be completed before the turn of the year.

As the Minister for Finance has said, Tullverket has been tasked with reviewing the equipment needs of the agency's employees, including their armament. The government mandate shall be reported by January 15, 2024, at the latest. I assume that the relatively short timeframe for the mandate is partly due to the fact that it was already known that Tullverket had commenced its own similar review.

I have, on this occasion, taken an initiative in the Committee on Taxation to invite the Director General of the Swedish Customs Service to report on both the Swedish Customs Service's own review and the government mandate. I have done this with the expectation of also receiving an account of what additional funds the Swedish Customs Service considers would be needed to implement what they have concluded.

Without anticipating the result of the investigation, I hope that it will be proposed to provide both service weapons to the personnel working in external service and additional funds for the purchase of technical equipment in order to be able to detect smuggling of weapons and narcotics to a greater extent.

We will certainly have reason to discuss this again after the results of these two reviews have been presented. I would still like to ask if the Minister for Finance and the government, together with the Sweden Democrats, are prepared to provide the funds that the Swedish Customs Service considers necessary. How quickly can the agency, in that case, expect to receive such a supplement?

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Finansministern Elisabeth Svantesson (M)

Madam Speaker! As a brief answer to the latest question, I can say that we will return together in the budget negotiations. I know that we are four parties who, even in opposition, have jointly strengthened the justice system and the police, and that all organizations that fight crime would have had fewer resources if our previous budgets and our current budget had not passed here in the Riksdag.

As the interpellor was in, Tullverket is truly in the front line of the work against the criminal economy. There has always been drugs, weapons and other things that have crossed borders, but the levels and the vulnerability are different today than they were before – even compared to 2013. It has become even worse, just as the interpellor pointed out.

That is why the government focuses on tools, resources and, of course, legislation. One must be able to have the tools and equipment needed in the work, everything from armament to other parts. Resources are, of course, as we have touched upon, an important issue, together with legislation.

Soon a referral to the Council of Legislation from the Customs Authority Investigation will arrive. It will make a difference. We have also given additional directives that proposals should also be submitted on how the export of stolen goods can be criminalized. This is important, and it is quite crazy that it has not been so until now.

It is actually completely incomprehensible - it is illegal to steal anything, but if you let someone else drive it out of the country, it is not illegal. This is what our four parties are ensuring is changed now.

I thank you for a good discussion and a good debate. There is more to be done. We will do more in all the parts that I have mentioned. Those who work in this activity - those who work at the very front line - should never have to worry about not having the right tools and not having the opportunity to do the job they are set to do. They should feel the Riksdag's support. I hope that all parties in the Riksdag can stand behind this and give them the support that all customs officials need.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Richard Jomshof (SD)

Madam Speaker! We can see settlements on streets and squares in the form of shootings and explosions but also, as the Minister has touched upon, organized crime and the growing criminal economy and, not least, drug sales. In the fight against the - largely imported - serious crime, it is clear that Tullverket has an immensely important role to play. But we must not forget that we also have the Border Police and the Coast Guard. These three agencies need additional resources. I want to emphasize that we must not forget the Border Police and the Coast Guard, for they also have a very important role to play in this context.

It is clear that we cannot allow the situation to be as it is today, when grossly criminal individuals are allowed to smuggle weapons and drugs - sometimes unfortunately unhindered. If one has passed some of our border crossings - not least the Öresund Bridge - one knows that there are occasions when they are more or less unguarded and one can very easily enter the country with the one and the other. It is clear that this is a problematic situation.

I will follow the issue myself. It will be interesting to see what is concluded in the investigation. I am completely convinced that together we will be able to ensure that the Coast Guard, the Border Police and the Swedish Customs Service receive the resources they request and, above all, the tools they need to perform their mission in a proper manner.

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Finansministern Elisabeth Svantesson (M)

Madam Speaker! I thank you for the discussion and debate on an issue that is important to highlight.

Customs officers all over Sweden are doing a fantastic job, sometimes under very tough conditions. Over the past year, Customs has succeeded well in its raids against both drugs and weapons, which is pleasing. But as the interpellor says, it still flows across the borders, and we must put a stop to that. This also applies to other parts of the criminal economy, for example, fraud and other things in incredibly large amounts that feed this activity.

As the person responsible for the Swedish Customs, I promise to do my part. Our parties will return in budget negotiations, but it is not the time for that here and now. As said, we have previously strengthened these activities, and it will most likely need to be done again. Thank you and have a nice weekend!

The interpellations debate was hereby concluded.

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