Swedish News:

Don’t lose your bike. Swedish ship might have stopped pirates. 

  • When biking in Stockholm, lock your bike! 10,030 bikes were stolen last year in Stockholm municipality; 5,434 of them were stolen in the city itself. Above: A young biker in Paris in 1868.
  • Don’t lose your bike
    10,030 bikes were stolen last year in Stockholm municipality. 5,434 were stolen in the city alone. And watch out in Södermalm, where the risk is the highest for having your bike stolen. A stolen bicycle is one of the most common property crimes. A study from Brottsförebyggande rådet (The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention) shows that 6.5 percent of all households in Sweden have at some point experienced getting a bicycle stolen. And the real number is much bigger: Only 38 percent of all stolen bicycles are reported. In total, 60,450 bikes were stolen in Sweden. It’s important to remember in all of this that many Swedes use their bikes to get to and from work, school, shopping etc. So what can you do? “Whether it’s an organized theft or a drunk person who takes your bike just because he needs to get home, you can make it harder on the perpetrator if you use an approved lock,” says Pia Lindström, vice managing director at Stöldskyddsföreningen. The market for stolen bikes is huge in cities with many students. So when buying a second-hand bike, make sure you ask to see the seller’s ID. “If the person doesn’t want to show you their ID, then watch out,” Lindström says. Also ask to see the original receipt for the purchase of the bike—that’s a good way of finding out if the seller and the bike are actually connected. “Is the price too good to be true? Then it probably is too good to be true.” You can no longer say you acted in good faith if you buy a stolen bike. Ways to make it harder for the thief: 1. Lock your bike onto a permanent fixture. 2. Park your bike in a public, open area with lots of passersby. 3. Mark your bike so you recognize it easily. 4. Register the number of the bicycle. 5. Cover or put a sticker over the bike's label (especially if it's an expensive bike). 6. Remove the seat of the bike, if possible.
    Biking is popular in Sweden so there's no shortage of thiefs Bring out the bicycle!

  • Swedish ship might have stopped pirates
    Swedish HMS Carlskrona has prevented a suspected pirate attack off the coast of Somalia. The ship carried out its first assignment in Operation Atalanta—the European Union’s naval contribution to protecting ships in the region—when the ship’s helicopter discovered a suspicious pirate boat on the morning of April 12. Since the helicopter followed the boat, which is presumably the same type often used in pirate attacks, the crew chose to steer toward the coast. On the beach, the boat was turned upside down, according to Försvarsmakten (the Swedish Armed Forces), in order to cover its equipment. “It was a successful mission to discover the boat, and to get the suspected pirates to turn around,” says Anders Kallin, information officer at HMS Carlskrona, to TT. This is the third time Sweden is participating in the operation, and the second time for HMS Carlskrona. The mission will continue until August.