The Icelandic police today (Thursday) arrested four suspects of planning a terrorist attack. This is apparently the first time that the peaceful Nordic country has arrested suspects planning terrorist attacks.
A book of semi-automatic weapons, including 3D printed ones, were seized in nine locations, as well as thousands of rounds of ammunition, in a major police operation involving 50 officers.
Carl Steiner Valsson, the national commissioner of the Icelandic police, declined to elaborate further on the nature of the targets of the planned attack but suggested they may have included parliament and the police.
Local media reported that police were looking into potential links to Nordic far-right groups and that the police were the main target.
Elson said: “It’s safe to say our society is safer than it was.”
He added that the police are looking into whether there are connections between the men and extremist organizations, and that they are in contact with foreign authorities.
He said at a press conference that: “As far as we know, this is the first time that an investigation of this type has been opened [באיסלנד]”.
Elson added that the investigation is ongoing but further arrests cannot be ruled out.
The four Icelanders in their 20s were arrested in Kupaugur, a suburb of the capital Reykjavik, and in the city of Mosfalsvaar in the southwest of the country in an operation led by special forces.
The small country of 375,000 people has been at the top of the global peace index since it was included in the ranking in 2008 and is considered one of the most peaceful places in the world.
Violence is rare in Iceland, as evidenced by one of the lowest crime rates in the world, although an increase in violent crime in recent years has worried the authorities.
One group that has been on the police radar in Iceland in recent years is the neo-Nazi organization known as the Nordic Resistance Movement. The organization managed to establish itself in Iceland and has an active website and distributed leaflets on the campus of the University of Iceland, among other places.
The National Police Commissioner’s Office’s latest report on the threat of terrorism in Iceland, published last year, singled out the pan-Nordic group as a threat. The report said: “It is clear that the Nordic resistance movement falls under the far-right groups that Norwegians and Swedes see as a cause for concern.”
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