Police ordered to pay for man's pipe

• Tweet

SUNDSVALL , Sweden, March 5 (UPI) -- The Swedish chancellor of justice ruled the country's National Police Board must pay $33 to replace a man's pipe after he was cleared of drug charges.

Chancellor of Justice Goran Lambertz ruled after Ulf Olsson, 50, was acquitted of narcotics charges in Sundsvall District Court that police must replace a pipe that was smashed by officers after they discovered it in his car, The Local reported Thursday.

Police said the pipe, which they discovered during a January 2008 search of his vehicle, contained traces of what they suspected to be cannabis. Officers smashed the pipe and Olsson was detained.

The court said in clearing Olsson of the charges that prosecutors had failed to demonstrate that the pipe was used for anything other than tobacco smoking.

"They smashed my pipe without even checking to see if there were any traces of cannabis in it," Olsson said. "Then they dragged me to the hospital because they assumed I was on drugs, but the tests showed there were no drugs whatsoever in my system."

"This proves that I was right, and that's what I really care about," Ohlsson said of Lambertz's ruling. "The money isn't that important to me."

"I would rather have got my pipe back though," he said.