STOCKHOLM, Nov 27 (AFP) - Stockholm police have apologised to the city's
Gambian community for publishing a 1998 report that claimed half of all
Gambians in the capital were involved in the heroin trade, police said
Monday.
   Stockholm police commissioner Gunno Gunnmo has sent a written apology to
the Discrimination Ombudsman and withdrawn the report, police spokeswoman
Stina Wessling told AFP.
   "Some of the phrasing in the report was unfortunate," she said.
   In December 1998, Stockholm police published a report stating that 400 of
the 900 or so Gambians living in Stockholm were involved in the heroin
trade.
   The city's Gambian Federation and several private individuals filed a
complaint with the Discrimination Ombudsman.
   The police letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, noted that "the
accuracy of parts of the report can be called into question."
   "The police authority strongly disclaims those parts of the report that
can
be interpreted as unfair or offensive to individuals or groups of Gambian
origin," it said.
   "The police authority deeply regrets that so many felt offended by the
contents of the report," it concluded.
   The chief lawyer for the Stockholm police authority, Leena Kangas, told
the
newspaper Metro that police decided to issue a public apology because many
Gambians were upset by the report.
   "The report does not fulfill the legal requirements needed for it to not
be
considered ethnic discrimination. It crossed the line," Kangas said.
   Kangas said that even if the information was accurate and the result of
meticulous investigation, the police wronged in making the information
public.
   "One cannot pass on information like that to the public. Clumping people
together is not recommended, and we don't know if the information holds
true,"
she said.
   po/sa

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