Three men, dubbed the "camera trap league" by the media, were recently sentenced to prison for their roles in stealing and vandalizing 150 speed cameras across Sweden.
According to the Swedish media outlet UNT, the thefts were first noticed in August 2022, when Sweden’s Transport Agency found eleven broken speed cameras on a road in Uppland.
Initially thought to be isolated cases of vandalism, police quickly became suspicious as more cameras were stolen across the regions of Uppsala and Stockholm.
By autumn, the number of stolen cameras reached 150, with estimated losses soaring into the millions.
The police investigation was stalled due to a lack of forensic evidence—no fingerprints or DNA were left at the scenes.
Later, an anonymous tip led police to two men from Norrtälje, who had allegedly been trying to sell stolen camera equipment on the trading platform Blocket.
When police raided the suspects, they found one man hiding 22 stolen cameras under his bed, with another camera openly placed on his desk. Chat messages on their phones and handwritten notes found at the crime scenes further linked the men to the crimes.
Court Rulings and Sentences
Based on the collected evidence, the court imposed varying prison sentences on the men.
The primary defendant, who was found hiding 22 cameras, received a sentence of one year and four months for grand larceny.
A 26-year-old accomplice was sentenced to one year and six months, and a third man, aged 25, received a prison term of one year and ten months for grand theft. Although the Transport Agency sought compensation, the court denied their request.
The case is one of Sweden's largest incidents of mass vandalism.
