A 60-year-old woman claimed she was a child in an attempt to enter Sweden to visit her mother after the country introduced strict border controls.
While Swedish nationals are allowed across the border without delay, those with foreign passports need a valid reason to come into the country under present coronavirus lockdown regulations. One such valid excuse under the rules states that children under 18 can enter to visit their parents in Sweden.
Linnea Lokind, a border police officer who works in Malmö at the Öresund bridge border with Denmark, revealed in one extreme case that she had to deal with a woman in her 60s who attempted to use the child loophole to enter the country.
“I had to explain to her that she stopped being a child when she was 18,” Lokind told Swedish broadcaster SVT.
Foreigners who work in Sweden are also facing issues at the border, according to Danish man Søren Andersen who said the rules were not clear enough.
“The rules are not so clear to those of us who are not tourists. If I don’t come in, it’ll be a long journey for nothing,” Anderson said.
Swedish officials have rejected nearly 8,000 people at the border with Denmark since Sweden implemented border controls on December 22nd, the vast majority being Danes followed by Germans, Poles, Norwegians, and Romanians.
Last month, the European Union placed Sweden in the highest risk zone for the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus. Its neighbour Finland was listed as having one of the lowest infection rates in the political bloc alongside Greece.
Sweden, which has had more relaxed restrictions than many countries since the outbreak of the pandemic, is not the only country to recently close its borders and limit entry for foreigners. Germany closed its border with the Czech Republic last month, resulting in a queue of hundreds of vehicles at the border.