– It’s almost like you think it’s a movie and not in reality, but it is, says state prosecutor Helena Treiberg Claeson, who led the case.
The police’s investigation gained momentum after three addresses were blown up within a week in August last year in Gothenburg. The investigators then saw a pattern: A 23-year-old woman’s cell phone was connected at the locations.
A surveillance operation was launched against the woman and her phone was tapped. In October, the police stopped the 23-year-old when she arrived in Gothenburg from Stockholm – with a bag containing explosives. She was then arrested by the detectives, but the traces led the police on to two 22-year-old men.
– She had a taxi ordered to an address in Gothenburg. The police went there and there were two guys waiting for her, says Helena Treiberg Claeson.
The police began, secretly, to investigate and map the two men. Then more and more puzzle pieces began to fall into place and a tangle unraveled.
Had a mobile phone smuggled into the institution
The startling story dates back to January 2023.
– It is about a young man who was then subjected to a brutal kidnapping, says Treiberg Claeson.
Several people were sentenced this summer for the kidnapping. One of them, a man in his 20s, was friends with the 23-year-old woman and the two 22-year-old men. After police accessed their encrypted Signal chats, it was revealed they were texting with the convicted kidnapper – who was inside a prison.
– He had access to a phone, which of course he shouldn’t have, but he had contact with all the defendants.
According to the prosecutor, the group had a “plan A” before the detained man’s trial in the Court of Appeal regarding the kidnapping.
– It was that they wanted to discredit the plaintiff.
First, six letters were sent home to the various people convicted of kidnapping, also to the trio’s friend so that it would not look like it was done for his sake.
– In the letters, you don’t write outright that it is the guy who was the victim of the kidnapping who sent it, but from the content you understand that this is what you want to present it as.
The words from inside the institution: Now it’s plan B
But the letter coup did not get their detained friend released. That was when the three explosions in Gothenburg took place. The purpose of the act, the prosecutor believes, was to make it look like a kidnapping victim was taking revenge on her kidnappers.
– They blow up two places where two guys (convicted for kidnapping) live or lived. The third address is close to where another of the convicts lives, you may have gone wrong. It is incredibly reckless to put people who live in these properties at risk by blowing up their gate.
Neither did the explosions lead to any success. The day before the appeal court hearing was to begin, the next move was made. According to the prosecutor, they went to the kidnap victim and placed two pipe bombs under his caravan.
– Then you call SOS anonymously and say that you are his friend and want to ease your heart and tell them that he planned and carried out explosions.
But they failed even with this coup.
– It was plan A. This man who wanted to be free writes, after the end of the appeal court hearing, the message “now it is plan B that applies”.
The release plan: Bomb, uniform and an Audi
According to the prosecutor, the new plan was about freeing the man from the institution. It was planned that he would pretend to be unwell and be taken to a hospital. The trio had, according to the suspects, raided the prison and the hospital. They also tried to buy a law enforcement uniform, an Audi with fake license plates as a getaway car and a fake passport for him to leave the country.
In addition, they obtained explosives and a remote trigger which, according to the suspects, was to be used in the release. But that’s when police detectives caught the 23-year-old woman when she arrived in Gothenburg.
After the police’s discovery, when the woman was arrested and everything was revealed, the Probation Service was contacted, who had to move the detained man to another institution.
Prison sentences for all three
The trio were charged with a range of offences. On Friday, the 23-year-old woman was sentenced to two years and two months in prison for possession of the explosives, weapons offences, aggravated false statement, five of the threatening letters and aiding and abetting two of the explosions.
One of the men received four years and three months in prison, while the other man received a one-month shorter sentence for various forms of involvement in the tangle and additional crimes for which the woman was acquitted.
However, all three were acquitted of aggravated preparation for the promotion of escape, including a female relative of the detained man who was suspected of involvement in the plans.
– It is a circumstantial case based on putting together a puzzle. It is an unusual, special and extensive case.