A coordinated operation was conducted in Eskilstuna, Linköping, and Strängnäs during the morning of April 4th, resulting in the arrest of several individuals with suspicions of planning terrorist crimes in Sweden. The Security Police, with the support of the Swedish Police Agency, has carried out extensive intelligence and investigation work on this case, but they do not believe that an attack was immediately imminent. According to Susanna Trehörning, deputy head of counter-terrorism at the Security Police, this case is one of many worked on by the Security Police after protests directed towards Sweden following the high-profile burning of the Koran in January. The five arrested individuals have been accused of terrorist crimes, and the preliminary investigation is being conducted by the Security Police under the direction of prosecutors at the National Security Unit. The suspected crime is believed to have international links to violent Islamist extremism. The Security Police often intervenes early to ward off potential threats rather than waiting for a crime to be completed before taking action.
The persons were arrested during a coordinated operation in Eskilstuna, Linköping and Strängnäs, which was carried out during the morning of April 4 with the support of the police’s National Task Force. At the same time, a number of house searches were carried out.
The suspicions concern plans for terrorist crimes in Sweden, and the Security Police has carried out extensive intelligence and investigation work with the support of, among others, the Swedish Police Agency. The security police do not make the assessment that an attack was immediately imminent.
– The security police often need to intervene early to ward off a threat. We cannot wait for a crime to be completed before we act. The current case is one of several that the Security Police has worked on after the protests that were directed at Sweden in connection with the high-profile burning of the Koran in January, and where there are international calls for attacks, says Susanna Trehörning, deputy head of counter-terrorism at the Security Police.
The suspected crime is judged to have international links to violent Islamist extremism.
The five arrested persons have been arrested by prosecutors on suspicion of labeling them terrorist crimes. Stamping means that a person in consultation with another decides to commit a crime, tries to induce someone else to carry out a crime or undertakes to carry out a crime.
The preliminary investigation is conducted by the Security Police under the direction of prosecutors at the National Security Unit.