A group of men, who were condemned in the Swedish media as the 'photo trap league', will go to prison because they stole a total of 150 camera traps.
A group of men, known as the "photo trap league," were recently convicted of stealing and vandalizing 150 speed cameras in Sweden.
The case received a lot of attention after the Swedish police, after a long investigation, got on the trail of the men and their methods.
One of the men was found hiding several of the stolen cameras under his bed. The trial, which ended with prison sentences for several of those involved, is the provisional sentence in the case, which already has millions of kroner in damages.
This is written by the media UNT .
The thefts were discovered in August 2022, when the Swedish Transport Agency found eleven broken speed cameras along a road in Uppland.
READ ALSO: France gets super speed cameras – automatic fines of DKK 4,000.
Although minor vandalism to speed cameras is not uncommon, the increasing number of cases quickly got the police on the case.
As more cameras went missing over the course of the fall, the thefts spread to more regions, especially around Uppsala and Stockholm. A total of 150 cameras were stolen, and even then the Swedish Transport Agency made the loss run into millions of kroner.
The police investigation was initially hampered by a lack of clues, as the thieves did not leave DNA or fingerprints at the crime scenes.
Therefore, the police called on the public to contribute information, which quickly led to a breakthrough. At the end of 2022, the police received an anonymous tip linking two men in the Norrtälje area to the thefts.
Allegedly, the two men quite openly tried to sell the equipment from the camera traps on the trade portal Blocket. When the police raided the men, it turned out that one kept 22 cameras under his bed. Just as he had another camera from the stolen cameras sitting on the desk.
On the men's phones, law enforcement also found chat messages that clearly linked them to the many thefts.
At several of the crime scenes, the police also found handwritten notes. Including one with the text "Hey losers, this is an 'inside job.'" The writing was later linked to one of the men's handwriting.
Based on the work of the police, the court imposed prison terms of varying length.
The man who hid the cameras under the bed was sentenced to one year and four months in prison for grand larceny. Two other men also received sentences; a 26-year-old was sentenced to one year and six months in prison, while a 25-year-old received a sentence of one year and ten months for grand theft. However, a compensation claim from the Danish Transport Agency was rejected by the court.
Read more exciting news from and about the world of cars right here!
