Rakhmat Akilov, a 39-year-old Uzbek national, has already confessed to driving the stolen truck which mowed down pedestrians and killed four people on a busy Stockholm shopping street on April 7th. He is currently being held in custody, but investigators are still searching for possible accomplices.
Sweden's prosecutorial authority on Sunday arrested a second suspect. They have so far declined to give any further information but according to the court he is suspected of terror crimes.
Swedish media report that the man, who is understood to be in his twenties, was arrested in the small town of Örkelljunga in southern Sweden in an apartment block owned by the Migration Agency. Other residents and witnesses described seeing armed officers burst into the building.
“The police forced their way in, they had a dog with them. I was not allowed to go near my son,” a woman describing herself as the mother of the man arrested on Sunday told broadcaster SVT.
“They were armed and knocked down the door. They hit the boy and pushed him against the wall.”
According to the woman, who told reporters she and her son had come to Sweden from Chechnya to seek asylum, the pair were together in the apartment in Örkelljunga when they heard of the terror attack.
“I heard of the terror attack in Stockhom on Facebook. My son was here with me,” she told SVT.
“My son is not a terrorist. We fled ourselves to escape Kadyrov,” she said of the Chechen president.
Police, prosecutors and his lawyer have remained tight-lipped on what they believe the man's involvement in the attack might be, or the level of suspicion on which he has been arrested. The prosecutor has until Wednesday noon to decide whether to ask the court to formally remand him in custody.
The second suspect was released late on Tuesday. Prosecutors say he is no longer a suspect.
READ ALSO: All articles related to the Stockholm terror attack
Rakhmat Akilov has confessed to driving the truck. Photo: Anders Wiklund/TT
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