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CRIME

‘Dapper’ Stockholm axe man attacks 71-year-old

A 71-year-old was attacked in central Stockholm at the end of January by a “well-dressed” man, threatening to kill him while splitting his skull in two with an axe.

Published: 9 February 2012 11:28 CET
'Dapper' Stockholm axe man attacks 71-year-old

“I just want to kill you,” the axe-wielding assailant said to his elderly victim, according to daily Aftonbladet.

Early in the morning on January 22nd, 71-year-old “Roland” got dressed and went out for his daily morning walk in the Södermalm area of Stockholm where he lives.

A short while into his walk he suddenly heard “sneaking” steps behind him, and turning around saw a man wielding an axe. The blow hit him over his right eye, splitting his frontal bone in two.

“After that I shouted that I didn’t have any money. He answered ‘I am not after your money’. He dealt another blow with the axe but I managed to raise my arm. So he broke my arm with the handle,” Roland told the paper.

When his attacker tried for the third time to strike him with the axe, Roland managed to get hold of the handle and after a short struggle, the man just gave up his attempt and left.

“He just took off as if nothing had happened. He was swinging the axe as he went, as if it was a spring day and the birds were singing,” said Roland to Aftonbladet.

Roland described the man as “well dressed”, newly shaven, and with tidy thick dark hair.

“And these staring black eyes. I was afraid when I saw them. I have never seen eyes like that before,” he told the paper.

With the help of Roland’s description, the police were able to make a phantom image of the man and last week, a 34-year-old criminology and psychology student was brought in for questioning.

His flat, where he was forcibly apprehended by police, is located some 100 metres from where the attack took place.

As it turned out, the 34-year-old was sectioned last year after an argument with his mother got out of hand. However, he was released shortly after, according to the paper.

He was remanded into custody last Friday and the prosecutor has until this Friday to present evidence indicating his involvement in the axe incident as well as other crimes committed in the area, or he will be released again.

“We are carrying out investigations that will either confirm his involvement or write him off as a suspect. When these are concluded I will decide,” said prosecutor Joakim Eriksson to Aftonbladet.

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RUSSIA AND SWEDEN

Swedish rail derailments could be linked to ‘Russian-backed sabotage’

European intelligence services are warning that Russia is plotting violent acts of sabotage in their countries in a concerted effort to destabilise the continent, including covert bombings, arson and attacks on infrastructure, the UK newspaper the Financial Times (FT) has claimed.

Published: 6 May 2024 14:12 CEST
Swedish rail derailments could be linked to 'Russian-backed sabotage'

The report comes just days after prosecutors arrested two German-Russian men on suspicion of spying for Russia and planning attacks in Germany to undermine military support for Ukraine. There have been similar alleged incidents in several other European countries.

FT also claims that security services in Sweden suspect that a series of recent railway derailments may be acts of state-backed sabotage. 

It doesn’t mention any specific incidents, but late last year, a fully-loaded freight train derailed on the Malmbanan near Vassijaure in northern Sweden, damaging around 15 kilometres of the line.

Repairs began quickly, but state-owned Swedish mining company LKAB, which uses the line to transport iron ore was greatly affected, with losses of around 100 million kronor per day while the line was closed and a 3.8 million drop in operating profits for the last quarter of 2024.

It reopened on February 20th, but just five days later it derailed again in Vassijaure, this time along a shorter stretch.

Fredrik Hultgren-Friberg, press spokesperson at the Swedish Security Services (Säpo), reiterated to Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) what’s previously been said, that Säpo is collaborating with police on the Malmbanan investigation.

“Säpo has an ongoing, routine collaboration with the police force on a number of cases, primarily when it cannot be ruled out that a foreign power is involved. One of those collaborations is on the investigation around Malmbanan,” he said.

Hultgren-Friberg declined to comment on the FT’s reports that Russia is planning attacks on European infrastructure.

“What I can confirm is that Russia is the largest single threat to Sweden,” he told SvD. “We’ve said that for a while. What we can see is more aggressive, risky behaviour from Russia in their illegal actions and spying in Sweden.”

Swedish police and Säpo have previously confirmed that they are investigating the Malmbanan incidents as possible sabotage, which doesn’t automatically mean that they actively suspect sabotage, but is also a routine procedure to facilitate the probe.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told Swedish news agency TT that the reports in FT did not come as a surprise to him.

“Russia is prepared to go further and carry out operations and sabotage on other countries’ territory,” he said.

But when asked whether such acts of sabotage had taken place in Sweden, he said that wasn’t the case.

“We haven’t seen any such signs for now, but we are on our toes. Other countries have seen things where they know or believe that there are such connections,” Kristersson said.

In late April, LKAB said it was so badly affected by the derailments that it may need to close temporarily as it’s not able to get stock to customers quickly enough, so its warehouses are nearing capacity.

“It’s a real worry,” LKAB’s CEO Jan Moström told TT. “If we can’t lower our stock then we’re going to have to start dialling down production capacity.” 

Moström believes that this could affect up to 600 people – half being LKAB employees and the other half being independent contractors.

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