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CRIME

Swedish court remands teenage boy in custody over suspected terror plot

A 15-year-old boy is being held in connection with a suspected terror plot in Sweden. Another three men also remain in custody.

Swedish court remands teenage boy in custody over suspected terror plot
Eskilstuna District Court, where remand hearings were held. Photo: Jessica Gow/TT

Remand hearings were held at Eskilstuna District Court after five men were seized in raids in the cities of Eskilstuna, Linköping and Strängnäs in central Sweden last week.

Three men, aged 24, 25 and 29, and a 15-year-old boy were remanded in custody.

A fifth man, aged 23, was released but remains a suspect.

“I’m satisfied. As for the fifth, we can only note that the district court has made its assessment of the material, and we’ll have to look at it and move on,” prosecutor Lars Hedvall told Swedish news agency TT after the hearings.

The men all deny the allegations.

They are suspected of conspiring to commit a terror crime, although the Swedish security service said when they were arrested that an attack was not believed to be imminent. The suspected plot is said to have been in the works from June 2022 until their time of the arrest, with the 15-year-old only being involved from August 30th.

The men were initially arrested on so-called “reasonable suspicion”, which is the lower degree of suspicion in Swedish law. That was increased to “probable cause” when they were remanded, with the prosecutor saying the case against them had grown stronger.

At the time of their arrest, the security service said that the suspects were linked to international “Islamic extremism”, specifically the Islamic State, and that it was one of several cases they had been investigating “in connection with the high-profile Quran burning”.

Far-right activist Rasmus Paludan in January burned a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish embassy, sparking fury in Turkey and several Muslim countries. The security police said the incident made Sweden a higher priority target for terror attacks.

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CRIME

Three injured in suspected knife attack in central Sweden

At least three people have been injured in a suspected knife attack which took place in broad daylight in the centre of Västerås in central Sweden on Friday afternoon.

Three injured in suspected knife attack in central Sweden

Police were called to the scene at shortly before 1.30pm on Friday after several women who Swedish police described as “elderly” were found injured with stab wounds. 

The man suspected of attacking the three women, who is reportedly in his late 20s, was later shot by police. According to Region Västmanland he is “seriously injured”.

“They have been injured with a sharp object but whether it is a knife or something else, we do not know right now,” Tobias Ahlén-Svalbro, a spokesperson from the local police told Sweden’s public broadcaster SVT. 

The three women have been taken to hospital, with one, in her 70s, described as having serious injuries. The others’ injuries are less severe.

“We are investigating two crime scenes,” Ahlén-Svalbro said. “As far as I understand the situation, two of them were injured in one area and the other somewhere else, but both areas are in central Västerås.”

The police have opened an investigation into aggravated assault, he added.

“We have already received several witness statements and would like to hear from any other witnesses who have seen or heard something.”

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