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DNA new ‘protection’ against copper thieves

A new method for reducing thefts of copper from Swedish railways is being tested, as twenty kilometres of rails in southern Sweden have been marked with smart DNA, making it possible to trace both the stolen copper and the thief.

Published: 3 June 2012 10:18 CEST

DNA new 'protection' against copper thieves

This new way of reducing the increasingly common copper thefts is currently being tried out by the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) and has seen previous success, reported newspaper Dagens Nyheter (DN).

“We’re going to try this method which has been very successful in other countries. It has also been tried out in stores in Stockholm with good results,” Sten Vickberg, head of security and maintenance at the Transport Administration told DN.

A substance is smeared onto the rails, marked with traceable ID materials, which make finding the copper possible.

The markings can only be found by light of a UV lamp, which all Swedish police are now being equipped with, reported DN.

The Transport Administration is also considering replacing the copper so hotly desired by robbers with aluminium.

Problems with copper thefts have long plagued the Swedish railway, with costs of up to 120 million kronor ($16.5 million) every year just for material losses. Even more expensive for society are the huge delays caused by the copper thefts.

The railway isn’t alone in being struck by copper thieves. Many Swedish churches have also been stripped of their venerable copper details, or even their entire copper roof.

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Sweden Democrat justice committee chair steps down over hate crime suspicion

Jomshof told news site Kvartal’s podcast that he had been called to questioning on Tuesday next week, where he’s been told he is to be formally informed he is suspected of agitation against an ethnic or national group (hets mot folkggrupp), a hate crime.

Prosecutor Joakim Zander confirmed the news, but declined to comment further.

“I can confirm what Jomshof said. He is to be heard as suspected on reasonable grounds of agitation against an ethnic or national group,” he told the TT newswire.

“Suspected on reasonable grounds” (skäligen misstänkt) is Sweden’s lower degree of suspicion, compared to the stronger “probable cause” (på sannolika skäl misstänkt).

The investigation relates to posts by other accounts which Jomshof republished on the X platform on May 28th.

One depicts a Muslim refugee family who is welcomed in a house which symbolises Europe, only to set the house on fire and exclaim “Islam first”. The other shows a Pakistani refugee who shouts for help and is rescued by a boat which symbolises England. He then attacks the family who helped him with a bat labelled “rape jihad”, according to TT.

Jomshof has stepped down from his position as chair of the justice committee while he’s under investigation.

“I don’t want this to be about my chairmanship of the committee, I don’t want the parties we collaborate with to get these questions again about whether or not they have confidence in me, but I want this to be about the issue at hand,” he said.

“The issue is Islamism, if you may criticise it or not, and that’s about free speech.”

It’s not the first time Jomshof has come under fire for his comments on Islam.

Last year, he called the Prophet Mohammed a “warlord, mass murderer, slave trader and bandit” in another post on X, sparking calls from the opposition for his resignation.

The Social Democrats on Friday urged Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, whose Moderate-led government relies on the Sweden Democrats’ support, not to let Jomshof return to the post as chair of the justice committee.

“The prime minister is to be the prime minister for the people as a whole,” said Ardalan Shekarabi, the Social Democrat deputy chairman of the justice committee, adding that it was “sad” that Jomshof had ever been elected chairman in the first place.

“When his party supports a person with clear extremist opinions, on this post, there’s no doubt that the cohesion of our society is damaged and that the government parties don’t stand up against hate and agitation,” TT quoted Shekarabi as saying.

Liberal party secretary Jakob Olofsgård, whose party is a member of the government but is seen as the coalition party that’s the furthest from the Sweden Democrats, wrote in a comment to TT: “I can say that I think it is reasonable that Richard Jomshof chooses to quit as chairman of the justice committee pending this process.”

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