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Can CCTV curb drug runs between Sweden and Norway?

TT/The Local
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Can CCTV curb drug runs between Sweden and Norway?
File photo of a CCTV camera in Sweden. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT

Surveillance cameras are set to be installed along the border between Sweden and Norway in an effort to catch drug traffickers, after a trial run resulted in treble the amount of drug runs being busted.

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The equipment was first tested by Norwegian customs at the boundary between Sweden’s western Värmland region and Hedmark in Norway.

And the cameras will now be rolled out on all passable roads between the two countries, SVT Värmland reports.

“We get a different view of what is moving over our border crossings. It has been really effective when it comes to stopping the large-scale movement of narcotics, alcohol and cigarettes,” Morten Nystuen, the head of customs in Norwegian town Kongsvinger, told SVT.

More than 400 kilos of narcotics and 150,000 litres of alcohol have been seized with the help of the CCTV trial since last summer.

Cameras are due to be set up along the entire border over the course of the next year. In total around 130 million Norwegian kronor (140 million Swedish kronor/$15.7 million) will be invested in the equipment.

Sweden is generally wary of CCTV compared to other countries. Earlier this year an appeals court ruling was required for police to be granted permission to install cameras in two Stockholm suburbs in an effort to monitor crime.

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