Revealing the suspected spy brothers Peyman Kia, 42, and Payam Kia, 35, could be the biggest since the arrest of the spies Stig Bergling and Stig Wennerström in the 70s and 60s.
Not since then have spies in equally sensitive positions within the Armed Forces and the Security Service been exposed in Sweden. The information they may have handed over to Russia has probably done Sweden great damage.
A regular ICA store in Uppsala. It is one of the places where the Security Police suspect that the brothers handed over secret information to the Russian GRU. Inside the toilet, investigators found a service hatch that appears to have been opened. In the hidden space it would be possible to hide the usb stick and envelopes with cash. A classic approach for spies.
– When you have to provide information, it is often the case that you have different types of so-called dead mailboxes. Someone can then pick up the information there, says Joakim von Braun, intelligence expert.
If the prosecutor’s suspicions are correct, the brothers’ actions may have seriously damaged Sweden.
– The only really comparable cases in Sweden are Stig Bergling and Stig Wennerström, says Tony Ingesson, lecturer in intelligence analysis.
– It is a dream situation for a foreign power. In the worst case, it could mean that human sources are exposed. If human sources are revealed, people end up in mortal danger. It is more difficult to gain visibility in Russia, he continues.
In the player above: See more about the spy brothers.