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Criminals hijack a grocery store in Malmö for a day

Nivash

Member
Yup, you read that right. Not robbed. Hijacked. From Sydsvenskan (my translation):

The owners of a grocery store in Malmö had been subjected to extortion attempts, according to the police.

- "There were armed threats. They tried a few times, but the owners refused to give them anything" says Mats Attin, station chief with the Malmö Police department.

The gang then moved on to threatening the owners in their home, a house in Malmö.

- "This obviously made them fear for their lives, to the point where they temporarily moved in with acquaintances in Copenhagen and let some other acquaintanties run the store".

On wednesday, the gang came back to the store.

- " They went into the store and took over. Like, they threw out the people working there and ran the store themselves and sold goods. They hijacked a grocery store!"

The gang couldn't access the register. Instead, they had the unknowing customers pay them using Swish [a Swedish banking service that allowes person-to-person bank transfers using only a phone number] and in cash. The people who were thrown out of the store were to scared to press charges, it wasn't until the owners learnt about the events the next day that the police was called in. The police approached the tip about the hijack most seriously and several patrols - som armed with automatic weapons - stormed the store and ended the storejacking.

- "The owners contacted us and we drove over with some plainsclothes and, sure enough, these four were in there. Regular Beagle Boys. They've been restocking the shelves with products from the storeroom in the back, we have it all on tape. It went on for at least a day", says Mats Attin.

He's almost speachless when he describes the strange event.

- "I've been in Malmö a long time, but I've never seen anything like it", he says.

Four persons are in custody with the police since thursday, suspected of several crimes. One of the persons arrested is considered the leader. He's a 24-year-old with a ten year rap sheet of suspicions, arrests and convictions for serious crimes, according to sources. He's established in the Seveds area of Malmö, where he and a relative have been criminally active for a long time, according to the police. The other men are 28, 25 and 21 years old.

- "We're having some trouble deciding what to charge them with. Besides felony extortion, we're also going for Taking Without Consent of the Owner". Then again, they've also sold products that didn't belong to them, that could be a kind of theft. This isn't something that's really covered at the police academy", says Mats Attin.

Sauce: https://www.sydsvenskan.se/2017-10-13/gang-kapade-livsmedelsbutik-och-drev-den-i-over-ett-dygn

Hijack my grocery store if old.
 

cameron

Member
That's a nice store you got there. It would be a shame if someone fully staffed it during regular business hours.
 

CrunchyB

Member
I'm not even sure if the hijackers should be punished. They effectively worked for the owners, they might even be entitled to back pay.
 

Nikodemos

Member
That has to be one of the most convoluted cons I've ever heard of.

So they basically gave the shopowners' stuff away while they pocketed the money from unsuspecting buyers.

It's on par with those people who stole 1000 tons of maple syrup from an unguarded processing plant, or those who made off with a whole storehouse's worth of cheese.
 
giphy.gif
 

CTLance

Member
This would be hilarious were it not for the obvious violence/crime involved.

Still, I feel almost inclined to tip my hat towards these criminals. Out of all of the possible ways to make money off somebody else's property and hard work, staffing their store and restocking/running it while pocketing the profits has to be one of the most convoluted, vulnerable and least vicious plans one could come up with. It's comedy levels of villainy, despite it being a genuine crime (and the people who got threatened/evicted being scared for their lives and genuinely suffering from the loss, no doubt).

I hope their drive to serve customers will be utilised somehow, maybe by allowing them to run a prison store (under strict supervision). Give them some proper training and knowledge, whet their appetite for earning money the right way. Then, once they are released they might even open up their own business and become upstanding citizens. Hey, one can dream, alright? They're kinda not really cut out for the whole crime thing, judging by this heist of theirs.
 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
- "We're having some trouble deciding what to charge them with. Besides felony extortion, we're also going for Taking Without Consent of the Owner". Then again, they've also sold products that didn't belong to them, that could be a kind of theft. This isn't something that's really covered at the police academy", says Mats Attin.

Oh man, hahaha. It's just that weird. I'm glad they got them at least. The others were even quite scared of them.
 

Nivash

Member
Wait, did that person make a DuckTales reference while discussing the crime? Lol

Nah, that's just OPs translation, the original references a classical Swedish series of films called Jönssonligan.

Yeah, I went with a contextual translation for that one. This is Jönssonligan:

Ligan-scan1.jpg


They're well known in Sweden as a group of loveable criminals from a series of films made in the 80s and 90s. Think National Lampoon meets Oceans Eleven, with the gang trying to pull off overly complicated, cartoonish plots. The best short-hand in English I could come up with for that would be the Beagle Boys.
 

Madness

Member
Why? What purpose would it serve to release their names besides for bigots to gloat.

Why would you say bigots would gloat? Are they not Swedish or just assuming that they aren't because it is Malmo.

People is innocent until proved guilty, but media doesn't wait for verdicts

Nah, I'm a big fan of the media not being allowed to name criminals. Especially before any kind of conviction.
What good would it do?

Why would the newspaper name suspects.
They havent been convicted for anything.

Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan isnt Twitter or... Fox News.

The owners contacted us and we drove over with some plainsclothes and, sure enough, these four were in there

They literally arrested the four still in the store while it was hijacked. How much more of an open and shut case would this be? It is one thing naming victims, high profile cases, but saying it is better for armed robbers to potentially not be named or identified until AFTER they get convicted is ludicrous. I also don't get the Fox News quote. Even in Canada, suspects who get arrested are named so people know what went on, who potentially did it.
 
They literally arrested the four still in the store while it was hijacked. How much more of an open and shut case would this be? It is one thing naming victims, high profile cases, but saying it is better for armed robbers to potentially not be named or identified until AFTER they get convicted is ludicrous. I also don't get the Fox News quote. Even in Canada, suspects who get arrested are named so people know what went on, who potentially did it.
Nah, I'm saying don't name them at all.
That's how Austria rolls, and I think it's good. It's always "Steven Namestein (Name changed)" or "Susie Surname (real name known to editorial staff)".
What's the benefit of naming criminals not prior known to the public?
If the identity is not some kind of important factor, why spread it?
 

Madness

Member
Nah, I'm saying don't name them at all.
That's how Austria rolls, and I think it's good. It's always "Steven Namestein (Name changed)" or "Susie Surname (real name known to editorial staff)".
What's the benefit of naming criminals not prior known to the public?

So that people know they are criminals? What if they get off because they have a good lawyer, there wasn't enough evidence to convict, the cops or prosecutors bungled the case. This isn't some poor woe is me committing some simple crime whose life could be ruined. But 4 armed robbers who extorted and hijacked their store and threatened their lives almost Mafia style.
 

John Dunbar

correct about everything
So that people know they are criminals? What if they get off because they have a good lawyer, there wasn't enough evidence to convict, the cops or prosecutors bungled the case. This isn't some poor woe is me committing some simple crime whose life could be ruined. But 4 armed robbers who extorted and hijacked their store and threatened their lives almost Mafia style.

that requires someone deciding they are criminals (guilty) before they have been convicted.
 
Why would you say bigots would gloat? Are they not Swedish or just assuming that they aren't because it is Malmo.









They literally arrested the four still in the store while it was hijacked. How much more of an open and shut case would this be? It is one thing naming victims, high profile cases, but saying it is better for armed robbers to potentially not be named or identified until AFTER they get convicted is ludicrous. I also don't get the Fox News quote. Even in Canada, suspects who get arrested are named so people know what went on, who potentially did it.

The cops going to the store or the journalists are not Judge Dredd. They do not decide who are guilty or not. Weather they or you think its an "open and shut case"

Over here, as a rule, news papers try to not name people who have not been found guilty. Unless there is a reason - like the police needing the publics help to find someone etc.

And I think that is a better rule to live by than what you seem to have in Canada.
 
So that people know they are criminals? What if they get off because they have a good lawyer, there wasn't enough evidence to convict, the cops or prosecutors bungled the case. This isn't some poor woe is me committing some simple crime whose life could be ruined. But 4 armed robbers who extorted and hijacked their store and threatened their lives almost Mafia style.

So if they go free because their guilt cannot be proven, you want to be able to still shun them, treat them like the criminals they may not be, based on something you read in an article?
What's with this disgusting trend of disregarding the justice system completely in favor of "they might be guilty, tell us their names" vigilante nonsense?

Sure there are exceptions, but in general, there are no downsides in not naming suspects.
And many downsides to naming them.

Edit: Just looked through our shittest newspaper, no names in the 12 articles I checked, besides one giving the partial name (Firstname L.) of a murder victim.
Which is good.
So many people eat their trashy articles right up. Base their views on biased and terrivly inaccurate reporting. Naming suspects can only lead to problems there.
 
Nah, I'm saying don't name them at all.
That's how Austria rolls, and I think it's good. It's always "Steven Namestein (Name changed)" or "Susie Surname (real name known to editorial staff)".
What's the benefit of naming criminals not prior known to the public?
If the identity is not some kind of important factor, why spread it?


It's done specifically to curb stomp professionally bored social media denizens to start a witch hunt.
 
So that people know they are criminals? What if they get off because they have a good lawyer, there wasn't enough evidence to convict, the cops or prosecutors bungled the case.
Then the parents of Springwood will catch them and burn them alive. And years later they will return to terrorize the parents kids in their nightmares.

(scary thing starting to disregard the juridicial system)
 
Why would you say bigots would gloat? Are they not Swedish or just assuming that they aren't because it is Malmo.









They literally arrested the four still in the store while it was hijacked. How much more of an open and shut case would this be? It is one thing naming victims, high profile cases, but saying it is better for armed robbers to potentially not be named or identified until AFTER they get convicted is ludicrous. I also don't get the Fox News quote. Even in Canada, suspects who get arrested are named so people know what went on, who potentially did it.

In this case might be clear. In others not. You know it’s impossible to change a law for every specific case right?
 

Danneee

Member
Read about this yesterday and I just can’t fathom what they were thinking? Did they somehow believe that it wasn’t a crime if they actually sold stuff and just pocketed the money?

My best guess is that they’re just fucking stupid.

Edit: And there were FOUR of them! I mean, at least one of them should realistically have had second thoughts about the soundness of the plan and told the others?
 

Rosur2a

Member
Read about this yesterday and I just can’t fathom what they were thinking? Did they somehow believe that it wasn’t a crime if they actually sold stuff and just pocketed the money?

My best guess is that they’re just fucking stupid.

Edit: And there were FOUR of them! I mean, at least one of them should realistically have had second thoughts about the soundness of the plan and told the others?

guessing swiping credit card details and getting the money from transactions?
 
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