In total, the stolen vehicles are worth around five million kronor. Motorcycles, four cars and 250,000 kronor in cash have been seized. Six of the eight accused are in custody for aggravated theft. All were raised in Sweden and hold citizenship in Sweden, Finland and Poland.
According to the investigation, there are links to international organized crime, where foreign clients are believed to have directed the operations and hired Swedish perpetrators.
Local thieves
They place orders with local thieves who steal the motorcycles, which are then exported out of the country, says Daniel Hagthorpe, head of the preliminary investigation at Mora police.
By linking several thefts together, the suspicions rose to the level of aggravated theft, which allowed the use of secret investigative measures. This was crucial in unraveling the network behind it, says Daniel Hagthorpe.
We were then able to request hawk (secret surveillance of electronic communications), which allowed us to track individuals via their phone movements. We then saw, among other things, that 12 of the 20 motorcycles found in Poland could be linked to individuals in Sweden.
The analysis of the suspects' phones showed, among other things, how stolen motorcycles were hidden in forest areas and later retrieved to be taken out of the country.
41 theft cases
The investigation, which first began as a single theft in Leksand, has grown to 41 theft cases and is one of the largest in the area in recent years; the National Operations Department (Noa) has also been involved. Investigation teams in Karlskoga, Haninge and Norrtälje have also participated.
Just over 30 vehicles are still missing, but many have been returned to their owners in Sweden.
It's a lot of fun and we've received a lot of good feedback from stakeholders who are grateful, says Hagthorpe.
