Response to interpellation 2023/24:217 on narcotics searches with dogs at mail terminals without reasonable suspicion
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the possibility of using narcotics dogs at postal terminals without reasonable suspicion to combat gang crime. SD argues that current legislation is toothless because postal operators are used for the distribution of narcotics 1 2. SD proposes that the government appoints an inquiry or issues a regulatory letter to Postnord to allow the use of dogs 1 2 3. KD responds that the government currently has no intention of appointing an inquiry 4 5. KD emphasizes that tools for detecting narcotics already exist and that it is not possible to issue a regulatory letter to Postnord as it is a state-owned company 4 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)
Madam Speaker! Katja Nyberg has asked me how I intend to make an adjustment in the Post Act to enable narcotics searches with dogs at postal terminals without reasonable suspicion.
In January 2023, new rules in the Postal Act (2010:1045) entered into force. The purpose of the new rules is to facilitate for law enforcement authorities to prevent illegal trade via mail. Those working in postal activities have now been given the opportunity to, on their own initiative, break the duty of confidentiality and provide information regarding suspicion of a crime to a law enforcement authority, if imprisonment is prescribed for the crime.
In July 2023, new provisions also entered into force which mean that ordering narcotics for personal use is criminalized as attempted crime.
For many years it has applied that a letter or other shipment held by a postal delivery company may be seized if the offense carries a prescribed prison sentence of one year or more and the shipment could have been seized from the recipient. If for some reason suspicion of a crime with such a penalty arises, a shipment can therefore, generally speaking, be seized.
In the investigation Increased opportunities to prevent illegal trade via mail (SOU 2021:29), it was noted that there is no legal obstacle to an individual actor using dogs to search for, for example, suspected narcotics in their premises, even if no preliminary investigation is underway. Regarding whether the Swedish Police Authority should regularly search the mail operators' premises with dogs, the investigation noted that there may be reason to regulate that issue specifically. The question, however, did not fall within the investigation's mandate.
The Swedish Customs Service already has the possibility today, in its control activities, to inspect postal shipments coming from another EU country or from a third country. This does not require any concrete suspicion of a crime; a shipment from a third country can be inspected, among other things, to check that the declaration and reporting obligations have been fulfilled. A shipment from another EU country may be inspected to check that certain prohibitions and conditions have been observed and if the reporting obligation has been fulfilled. To inspect shipments, customs officers use both scanners and search dogs.
The government and its agencies work continuously with the evaluation of crime-fighting measures to increase safety in society as well as to ensure that more crimes are investigated and lead to prosecution. This work includes making it more difficult for the flow of narcotics.
Katja Nyberg (SD)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Erik Slottner, for the answer!
The idea behind the new amendment to the Postal Act is good, but unfortunately, it has become toothless. Postnord states in its referral response that it can be extremely difficult to determine what a suspected shipment may contain and whether imprisonment is included in the sentencing scale in such cases.
In principle, it is required that a shipment has been broken and that tablets have fallen out for it to be reportable to the police. Furthermore, there may be fears among staff of reporting suspicious letters and packages because it can lead to reprisals from those involved in drug trafficking.
As the Minister mentioned, it was noted in the investigation that there is reason to regulate this issue specifically to give the Police Authority the possibility to regularly search the postal operators' premises with dogs, but that the issue unfortunately was not included in the investigation's mandate. As we all know, the police need all the tools they can get to combat serious crime, and it should therefore be of the utmost importance to investigate this issue to give the police this tool as well.
As it is now, the postal operators are included in the criminal networks' distribution of narcotics in Sweden. I listened to a report made by Sveriges Radio which was about the new postal law, and there they interviewed, among other things, a drug trafficker who had used Postnord's services for nine years and sent letters and parcels without having been exposed. He saw Postnord as a reliable partner and thought that Postnord manages itself very well.
Based on the societal problems we have today with gang crime, where a large part of the activity consists of drug trafficking and where postal operators are included as a reliable partner, it should be of the utmost importance that this issue is regulated specifically. We must use every tool available in the box to push back the gang crime that previous governments have allowed to spread like wildfire across the country.
The Minister mentioned in his response that the Swedish Customs Service has the possibility, in its control activities, to examine postal shipments coming from another EU country or from a third country without there being a concrete suspicion, which is good. But the problem is that Swedish drug traffickers use postal operators in Sweden to distribute drugs that have already been brought into the country. It is the national mail that needs to be examined, not the mail from another EU country or from a third country. The same legislation that already exists for the customs should also exist for the police.
Therefore, I wonder if the Minister intends to appoint an inquiry where this highly topical issue will be investigated.
Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)
Madam Speaker! The concrete answer to the question from Katja Nyberg is: No, there is nothing such as that concrete now that the government has said we should do. This does not mean that we are closing this door.
I think there is a lot in what Katja Nyberg says in her post. It is in no way a crazy idea. But there is nothing that we have concretized and said that we will come back to. But we have many years left to govern, and there is time to come back to the issue if we make that assessment.
Fighting drugs - drug use, drug trafficking and dealing - is of the utmost importance. Drugs are much of the foundation and the glue in the financing of organized crime and also that which is the gateway for many, not least young boys who are drawn into the horrific contexts that the criminal gangs constitute. That we fight drugs is therefore of very high priority for the government.
Several measures are being taken to hinder the drug trade. It is about increased penalties and providing more tools. The laws that we are now discussing and which entered into force during 2023 are two concrete examples of this, and which mean that police, customs, and Postnord must cooperate even better to access drugs sent via mail.
I still want to say that I do not believe the legislation is completely toothless. One can see that the police during the first half of this year have seized an average of 185 narcotics shipments in the postal flow per month. That is many postal shipments every month. So there are possibilities. And Customs has during the first nine months of this year made approximately 330 seizures per month in the international postal flow. That clearly shows how extensive the narcotics trade is, but it also shows that there are still tools for different authorities that can be used to be able to detect these flows. I still think it is important to say that.
The County Administrative Board has also issued a manual on how to detect drugs in mail flows. The Swedish Police Authority collaborates with the County Administrative Board on this.
So, a considerable amount of work is ongoing. But just as I stated in my response, the assignment did not include that one should be able to have, for example, narcotics dogs inside a post office without suspicion and unhindered in the investigation that was commissioned in 2021. If one wants this possibility, a new investigation must be commissioned, and as of today, there are no announcements from the government regarding such an investigation. But I am not closing the door completely on it, and it is very possible that we will return with such an assignment.
Katja Nyberg (SD)
Madam Speaker! I do not quite understand the Minister's answer when he agrees with me in my question. We have very large problems today with drug trafficking and with the gross gang crime. And in order to do everything to stop this, an investigation needs to be appointed because this is a major problem. So much drugs are transported through the postal operators today. There must therefore be a clearer answer as to when an investigation can be appointed regarding this.
Furthermore, the Minister states in his response: "The Government and its agencies are working continuously with the evaluation of crime-fighting measures to increase safety in society as well as to ensure that more crimes are investigated and lead to prosecution. This work includes making it more difficult for the flow of narcotics."
Distribution via postal operators is a flow of narcotics that occurs daily. And the largest distributor of narcotics in Sweden is postal operators, of which Postnord is a part.
For me, the Minister's answer is just empty words if the government does not do what is truly required to prevent drug trafficking in Sweden.
A promise has been made to the Swedish people that we will do everything in our power to identify, track down and imprison criminals who plague people's everyday lives. This promise must and shall be kept.
Then I wonder again: Why does the government not address this decisive factor in order to combat organized crime and to hinder the flow of narcotics within Sweden's borders?
Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)
Madam Speaker! I can understand if Member Nyberg becomes a bit confused by my answer because it is not very clear and distinct. Or I think I answered clearly and distinctly no to the concrete question, i.e., that the government at the current moment has no intention of appointing such an inquiry. There is nothing that has been stipulated that would allow me to say that. I cannot spontaneously in an interpellation debate say that the government will appoint an inquiry. There must be a process to appoint such an inquiry. I cannot just stand here and say that an inquiry will be appointed. Thus, the answer is no to the question.
But the answer is not no because I think this is a very bad idea. That was what I was trying to say in my answer. It is not that I have any ideological arguments or factual arguments against what is being presented here in the rostrum. But everything that is wise and everything that can be considered cannot be investigated in time, and it is a matter of both lack of time and lack of resources. That such a mandate was not included in the investigation that was commissioned and that the law is so new are probably reasons why this issue has not been investigated. But that does not mean that I completely close the door to this issue being able to be investigated. But it may not be investigated on its own but may perhaps be included in a larger investigation - who knows. It is also uncertain which minister would be responsible for such an investigation. That depends on how broad or narrow it becomes.
What I also tried to describe is that a lot of work is ongoing, both within the EU and in Sweden, to tackle drugs and to make it harder for those who make a living from drug trafficking and to make it harder for criminal gangs to finance their activities through drug trafficking on many different fronts. And I presented some of these measures just to show that the government is doing very much in this regard. We do not intend to investigate just this issue at this current stage, but I am not closing that door in any way.
Katja Nyberg (SD)
Madam Speaker! Since there do not appear to be any plans to appoint an inquiry regarding this, I have a proposal that I wonder if the Minister could consider taking into account. In the inquiry Increased opportunities to prevent illegal trade via mail, it was established that there is no legal obstacle for an individual actor, for example Postnord, to use dogs to search for narcotics in its premises even if no preliminary investigation is underway.
Then I have a thought while this issue is being investigated, which I hope will happen. Could the Minister, with a regulatory letter, give directives to Postnord to use their own narcotics dogs in their terminals for the purpose of finding suspected shipments? When the dog alerts, the staff can call the police to the site to examine the shipment more closely. How does the Minister view this? Is it a possible way to prevent the distribution of narcotics in any case via Postnord, which is a state actor, while awaiting a future investigation?
Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)
Madam Speaker! Just as Katja Nyberg says in her concluding remarks, there are today possibilities to use narcotics dogs to find drugs without reasonable suspicion. I would have said this, but I actually forgot it. It is more the systematic and regular use that is difficult. That is what one believes at least with the legislation that exists today. The investigation has said that in that case one should design specific legislation, or create a specific legal space, for exactly this. But one can, therefore, already today without reasonable suspicion for a preventive purpose examine mail shipments to detect drugs. I still think it is worth saying this.
Postnord is a state-owned company. State-owned companies do not fall under my responsibility but under the Minister for Finance, and regulatory letters are not issued to state-owned companies as they are to agencies. Therefore, it is not possible to issue a regulatory letter to Postnord.
I have had to answer this interpellation because PTS falls under my responsibility. It is the supervisory authority for those who distribute mail - and thus also for Postnord. Therefore, this question came to my desk. I am responsible for postal matters.
It will not be possible to issue any regulatory letter to Postnord; in that case, it is a matter of reviewing the legislation.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.