Former Swedish Social Democrat politician Rashad Alasaad has had people-smuggling charges against him dropped by prosecutors, despite admitting to engaging in smuggling activity in an undercover video.
The former politician, himself a migrant from Syria, was initially arrested in January of this year, but prosecutors say they have dropped the charges against him due to a lack of sufficient evidence in the case.
Anna Edebalk, of the International Prosecutor’s Office in Malmö, told broadcaster SVT: “As I understand it, the person has gone abroad in the belief that he is going to smuggle a child. But the baby wasn’t real. For it to be an attempt, there must be a risk that the crime will be completed.”
Using the name “Ahmad” the Social Democrat was said to have advertised people-smuggling services following an explosive undercover video where he was seemingly caught on tape admitting he had smuggled people.
“We have made contact with Facebook through legal aid in the U.S. and everything has been deleted there,” Edebalk said, adding: “To prosecute someone, you have to have evidence. You have to be able to say time, place and what person.”
“We haven’t gotten to the point in the investigation that we can prove the crimes he’s been talking about himself,” she said.
The 27-year-old was caught on film during a meeting in Crete with undercover reporters for Swedish newspaper Expressen where he is said to have offered prices of €3,000 per adult and €2,000 per infant for passport documents to reach Sweden.
the incident came after an employee of SVT, journalist Fredrik Önnevall, was convicted of people smuggling in 2018 after he brought a Syrian youth to Sweden from Greece in 2014.
The youth was subsequently arrested and convicted for knife crimes in 2019.