Early in the morning on November 22 last year, the dramatic strike took place against a villa in Nacka municipality.
The security police, the Swedish Armed Forces and the National Task Force struck in a coordinated and joint raid. Heavily armed police descended from two different helicopters and stormed into the house by smashing the windows.
The owners of the house, a married couple in their 60s with roots in Russia, are arrested and detained on suspicion of gross illegal intelligence activities against Sweden and the United States, respectively aiding and abetting the same crime.
Russian and Swedish citizen
The suspicions, which are later written off regarding the wife, relate to crimes stretching back ten years. According to the prosecutor, the client is Russia and the military intelligence service GRU.
The 60-year-old man is both a Swedish and a Russian citizen. In Sweden, he ran companies that traded in electronics and industrial equipment.
According to prosecutor Henrik Olin, the man has acted through the company as a “procurement agent” in a worldwide Russian network for illegal technology transfer from the West.
False identities
The man’s dealings can be linked to military ship projects, the development of what Western intelligence sources call a “spy satellite” and deliveries to closed cities controlled by the Russian military.
– More or less everything that he is involved in, in his activities, points to the Russian military-industrial complex and the GRU, says the prosecutor.
In the secret Russian deals, according to Säpo’s investigation, the 60-year-old must have used false identities, among other things.
Judgment against Designated Agent
Prosecutors have called for 4.5 to 5 years in prison and have demanded that the 60-year-old remain in custody pending sentencing.
– It is only for him to enter the Russian embassy and he is gone forever from the perspective of the judiciary, warns the prosecutor during the last day of the trial.
The 60-year-old denies any wrongdoing. He claims to have been unaware that people he did business with were acting on behalf of Russia.
After eleven months in custody, the 60-year-old was released because there was no longer considered to be a reason to detain him. It is normally an indication of an acquittal, or alternatively a significantly milder penalty than the prosecutor requested.
The verdict will be announced on Thursday at 11 a.m.