Undercover investigations, sniffer dogs, condom searches in garbage bins: Swedish police hunt underpants like serious criminals

There is another perpetrator profile that the police focus on with almost as much effort: johns. Prostitution has been banned in Sweden since 1999. To be precise: to protect women, offering sex is not punished, only the buyer is prosecuted. In a figurative sense: the fishermen’s wives may cast their fishing rods, but the fish may not bite.

The EU Parliament would like to adapt this system to all Member States. But sex workers and human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Right Watch protest against this. They fear that the scene will move underground, posing a greater safety risk for women and, above all, the loss of women’s self-determination.

Observed the Thai salon for months

The many police raids show how serious the Swedish authorities are in the fight against prostitution. The portal tidningensvenskpolis.se published by the police describes an operation in 2022 against a salon that officially offers Thai massages – but also more at an additional cost.

The portal writes about the deployment of the police: “They have been watching for months. They fished condoms from public trash cans and recorded who did what in the Thai massage parlour. The flow of male visitors was large. Today is the time for a raid.”

The police stormed the salon ‘quickly and in large numbers’. They give the five women present pieces of paper with a message in Thai to calm them down: the unit only focuses on men who seek sexual satisfaction in exchange for money.

Condoms in the freezer

Two customers are identified and released and fined. Dogs look for traces of semen on the mattresses. In a freezer, among broccoli and food boxes, officers found used condoms and a lot of cash in a cupboard. The salon owner, a pimp, is arrested and the lock is replaced.

The head of operations proudly summarizes: “We received information that up to 40 customers per day are breaking the law and purchasing sexual services here.” The information came from customers who wanted to enjoy massages regularly.

The raid on the Thai salon was meticulously prepared. Over three months, thousands of customers were identified who had visited the restaurant. You should expect a fine. The salon owner was later sentenced to two years and three months in prison for pimping.

Hotel employees spy in the room

In 2021, the police in Sweden arrested 1,886 people in hiding. Depending on the intensity of the research, there could be as many as a hundred in a week. They are often clues that guide you along the path. In a YouTube video, police encourage the public to anonymously report suspicious activity related to human trafficking and prostitution.

But information also comes from hotels. Hotel chains assign employees to keep an eye on customers and search hotel rooms. A checklist shows what to look out for: in the Güsel for condoms, under floor lamps for cash and under the mattress for weapons such as pepper spray and knives, which prostitutes often carry for self-protection.

The trick of the escorts

Since the introduction of the prostitution ban, street prostitution has decreased by about half, but personal advertisements on the Internet have increased explosively. The police are virtually powerless because the girls advertise on foreign servers. To reach the women’s contacts and locations, police officers often pose as submissives on the phone and conduct undercover investigations.

There is no consistent conclusion about whether the ban provides women with the desired protection. The number of unreported cases in the sex industry is probably very high. With their large-scale investigations, the police want to send a signal: Sweden must be unattractive to human traffickers and pimps.