This is what we know about the duo suspected of illegal union activity

The security police raided on Monday last week and arrested two men in the Stockholm area suspected of the unusual crime of illegal gang activity, which targets Sweden’s internal security.

– This crime is about suspicions that one creates or participates in some kind of association that can develop into an unauthorized means of power similar to a military or police force, says chamber prosecutor Henrik Olin at the National Security Unit.

The criminal plans are believed to have been going on since 2018 and are aimed at the state, otherwise the prosecutor is tight-lipped about the investigation.

Nazi Skinskull: “Armed Political Struggle”

The two suspects are in their 40s and 60s, respectively. Both were released after questioning by Säpo.
The men have worked in the Armed Forces. TV4 Nyheterna can now tell you that the younger of them has been a so-called “skin skull” and had connections to the Nazi network VAM, Vitt Ariskt Motstånd, which was active in the early 90s.

The newspaper Expo revealed yesterday that the man was in a subscriber register for the militant Nazi newspaper Info-14 around the turn of the millennium and that he had an SS tattoo originally from Nazi Germany.

– In this situation, I do not want to comment on whether there is, and if so which, ideological connection or context in this matter. Of course, this is something we are looking at, but nothing I can go into or comment on at this stage, says Henrik Olin.

TV4 Nyheterna’s survey also shows that the man, according to his own statement, among other things sang in a band in the White Power movement and as a 15-year-old was active in the Sweden Democrats. In a police interrogation in 1994, he also stated himself that he and his friends are skinheads. In 1999 he said instead that he had left the skinskull movement.

Over the years, he has been convicted of several crimes. In the mid-90s, he was convicted of handling stolen military weapons, including a K-piston. On several occasions in the following years, he committed, among other things, various forms of weapons crimes. In the same period, he also did military service but was sentenced for having deviated from it.
Later it was also discovered that he had taken ammunition and other military equipment during his military service. He was convicted in the late 90s for, among other things, serious weapons offenses after having the military weapon AK4 which his friend stole for him from the Home Guard along with uniforms.

According to TV4’s sources, the weapons were, according to the suspicions, to be used in an armed political struggle.

Several findings in containers – accused in a tangle

For some time now, the man has been running a company in the security industry. He has worked as an arms dealer and had a shooting club where he was, among other things, an instructor for police and military, on a shooting range he had in his basement. Something like SVT was the first to tell about.

Today, he stands accused in an extensive weapons racket linked to his company. He was arrested and detained in 2020 and the police then found military material in his residence and in containers in the yard outside. Among other things, there was ammunition, automatic weapons, weapon parts, radio equipment, maps, helmets and night vision binoculars. A police uniform and police identification were also found.

The indictment against him concerns that he did not have a permit for several of the heavy weapons, but also for having issued a series of false certificates of passing shooting tests for about ten people to help them obtain a weapons license. A total of 15 people are accused in the case, among others an all-Swedish soccer player and an ex-local politician.

When the weapons instructor was arrested last week for illegal union activities, the weapons trial had ended the same day. He was still at the district court when Säpo arrested him, according to SVT.

Ex-retired lieutenant colonel

The other man suspected of the unusual crime is a former lieutenant colonel in the Swedish Armed Forces, which Swedish daily newspaper first revealed.
He has training as a coastal hunter and paratrooper and has completed foreign service. In addition, he has trained professional officers.
The man was active in the military until he was charged with several serious crimes.

The Swedish Armed Forces’ personnel responsibility board stated that he would be fired in the event of a conviction, and the man himself chose to resign. He was later sentenced to prison.
In 2017, the two men who are suspected of illegal union activity joined the board of a company in the security industry.
The armed forces confirm that the duo has worked within the agency. They also state that “the arrest is the result of a very good cooperation between Must (military intelligence and security service) and the Security Police.”

– Illegal union activity is a very unusual but serious crime. The individuals have been active in the armed forces for a long time. One of them had to quit 14 years ago and the other 12 years ago. Since it is about individuals, I cannot go into details about why they quit, but generally it is the case that everyone who is going to participate in security-sensitive activities must pass a security check. Only people who are loyal, reliable and do not have too many vulnerabilities have a place in the Armed Forces, says Guna Graufelds, press secretary.

The security police do not want to leave any comments but refer to the prosecutor.