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In a series of articles, GP has examined the brothers who tried to create a national candy store empire and revealed many years of contacts – and business – with the criminal part of the Ali Khan family network, Gothenburg’s most criminal clan. The review has also shown how the brothers’ companies seized the chain of the 4 products and ended up in conflict with the suppliers and the authorities, and how they resold shops to suspicious boulevards to complete the ban on selling tobacco.
A dozen different people affirm that they have been subjected to threats or pressure from the brothers, who deny it. But few have made a police report.
Crime hidden behind a legitimate facade
Erik Nord is the Chief of Police for Greater Gothenburg. He emphasizes that he does not have a detailed knowledge of the case and speaks based on the information that GP has published.
– What you can say in general is that it is about how it looks. What makes this case a bit spectacular is that a lot of people have been and shopped at these stores. The business seems to have slipped out of the hands of the first owner a bit and seems to have ended up a bit in the clutches of some who may have had honest intentions all along but are quickly slipping into some kind of gray business and, sometimes even with purely criminal elements. .
It no longer has 4 good stores
Until recently, the brothers ran candy stores under the 4-gott name throughout much of the country. As far as GP knows, the candy stores that still use the name are run by people other than the brothers.
Erik Nord explains that it is not uncommon for criminal networks to use activities that rely on different legs, and that criminal elements become more difficult to detect when hiding behind a facade that appears legitimate.
– When cybercrime reaches a certain organizational form, it begins to become what can be equated to entrepreneurship. Then you can get whiter and whiter, that’s how the mafia in America did when it moved into companies.
– But I also think it may be the other way around. That you start a white business and when it doesn’t work, you fall into a gray crime. When you try to save what can be saved, you may be using threats and perhaps even violence against people with whom you may have had business.
READ MORE: 4-good was kidnapped by businessmen with criminal connections
Must improve at threat processing.
That people who feel threatened do not dare to report, believes Erik Nord, is one of the biggest problems for the police to be able to break through the legal facade.
“It is a wrong strategy to sweep it under the rug”
– I also understand that there is a human aspect and that it is easier to escape, but my call to all is that they make a report if they feel they are exposed to undue influence or pressure. One way to avoid this is for the employer to report and not the person concerned. I think it is a wrong strategy to sweep it under the rug.
– This shows that we must improve in the prosecution of those who use that mechanism with threats and unauthorized influence and improve in obtaining other evidence in addition to witness information.
How are you going to be
– We need more resources for the entire judiciary, but I speak for the police. We need to reach a level similar to that of Germany, with three policemen with 1,000 inhabitants. In the current situation, that would mean 31,500 police officers against the 20,500 that we are today. We also need new tools, says Erik Nord.
It highlights greater opportunities to monitor vehicle traffic and telecommunications traffic without the need for a specific criminal suspicion against an individual.
The police chief also adds that the police and other authorities still have a lot to learn from what grayscale looks like in activities where legal and illegal activities are intertwined.
Need to examine GP information: “Looks like it could be a money laundering scheme”
GP has revealed hitherto unknown connections, and businesses, between the Candy brothers and representatives of a criminal network. Police Chief Erik Nord says the police may need to take a closer look at information about car deals that the brothers’ companies have made.
– I’ll talk to those who handle cases like this, it seems to be a ruse to do some kind of money laundering, says the police chief.
Erik Nord also believes that there is a need for better collaboration between different authorities who can tackle the problem in different ways.
– Then we can also access gray activities where we cannot prove a crime, but where we think something seems wrong. This can be, for example, fire protection, service permits, sales permits, things that are outside the police mandate.
Fight back criticism: “We must be able to describe what we know”
The police have stated in a referral response to the municipality that the brothers’ companies are linked to organized crime. They themselves believe that it is incorrect and legally uncertain, since they have not been prosecuted or convicted of crimes associated with organized crime.
Do you see a problem with me issuing that query response, since there are no lawsuits and your statement may be the basis for not being allowed to sell tobacco in your stores?
– We are not the ones who prohibit, but it is another authority that can make an independent assessment, but it is clear that our comments are heavy. Therefore, it is important that we be careful when writing them as well, but we can comment on such circumstances. We not only provide criminal records, but we must be able to describe what we know and, above all, what we see, says Erik Nord.
The current entrepreneurs, the brothers, in the GP review deny that they have hijacked the 4-gotts brand and used it without permission.
READ MORE: Candy stores were sold out, followed by suspicious boulevards
READ MORE: Karlstad twice missed the Candy brothers’ criminal connections
READ MORE: We don’t let threats stop our journalism
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