Five men were arrested in dawn raids suspected of being labeled a terrorist crime in Sweden.
TV4 Nyheterna can now tell you that the plans are believed to have started in June 2022 – and have been going on for over ten months.
Säpo understood the criminal suspicions earlier this year.
The National Task Force, which is Sweden’s ultimate police resource, carried out a coordinated operation together with “specialists” at three locations in Sweden early this morning.
The raids were carried out on behalf of the Security Police and a total of five men were arrested in Strängnäs, Eskilstuna and Linköping. According to Säpo, they are suspected of plans to commit a crime in Sweden and the classification is a terrorist crime.
– Stamping means that you either decide in consultation to commit a crime together, that you try to get someone else to do it, or that you undertake to do it yourself, says Susanna Trehörning, deputy unit head for counter-terrorism at the Security Police.
The five terrorist detainees are suspected of having planned the attack or attacks since the beginning of June last year, TV4 Nyheterna can now tell. This is according to what Säpo has so far been able to find out in the investigation.
Säpo: IS connections are being investigated
It is unknown to TV4 Nyheterna how long the men have been on the security service’s radar, but the formal preliminary investigation should have started earlier this year. According to what TV4 Nyheterna has learned, this morning’s terror raid was preceded by a reconnaissance mission.
Säpo has been tight-lipped about the criminal suspicions, but stated that it “has carried out extensive intelligence and investigative work with the support of, among others, the Swedish Police Agency.”
Susanna Trehörning says that the suspected crime is judged to have international connections to violent Islamist extremism and that there may be a connection to the terrorist organization IS, the Islamic State.
Säpo “does not make the assessment that an attack was imminent”, it writes on its website.
TV4 Nyheterna has sought the five suspects’ lawyers for a comment. Three of them did not want to comment, the other two could not be reached.
Chamber prosecutor Henrik Olin at the National Security Unit, which leads the investigation, has not been available for an interview.
The terrorist threat level is already at an elevated level, a third on a five-point scale.
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In the player above: Säpo comments on this morning’s strikes in Eskilstuna, Linköping and Strängnäs.
Stamping is a form of preparation for crime which means that a person in consultation with someone else decides to commit a crime, tries to induce someone to commit a crime or undertakes to commit a crime.
Stamping is only punishable for particularly serious crimes, e.g. murder, terrorist offenses and aggravated assault.
Source: The Public Prosecutor’s Office