As reported by The Local, a total of 98 cases of suspected human trafficking have been brought to the southern regional police division’s attention in 2015 – up by 700% on the year before when 14 incidents were reported.

In the four months since September, 17 people have been found guilty of people smuggling according to court files examined by Swedish public broadcaster SVT.

The Öresund bridge that connects Denmark to Sweden is the most popular route among refugees making their way to the Scandinavian country. According to The Local, Sweden has seen more than 150,000 seek asylum this year – the majority in the past few months alone.

“If we rewind to June I don’t think anyone would have been able to expect that kind of frequency of human smuggling,” Michael Mattsson, head of the southern border police, was quoted as saying by SVT on December 23.