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CRIME

Danish armed forces deployed in Copenhagen amid security threat

Soldiers from the Danish Defence Command (FKO) were deployed in Copenhagen on Saturday morning after a wave of anti-terror arrests were made earlier in the week.

Danish police have called in the army to help them secure Copenhagen.
Danish police have called in the army to help them secure Copenhagen. (Photo by Sergei GAPON / AFP)

Troops have been deployed at three locations in the Danish capital, including at the Krystalgade synagogue, at the request of the country’s police. 

“This is due to the changed security situation and threat landscape in Europe and the Middle East,” said the Danish Defence Command (FKO) in a statement. 

The soldiers currently deployed on the streets of Copenhagen are drawn from the Royal Guards and will have the same powers as police officers for the duration of this operation. It is not yet clear how long the deployment will last.  

Terror plot

The move to deploy soldiers follows a wave of anti-terror arrests earlier in the week. 

On Friday, Danish prosecution authorities that six people had been remanded in custody overnight after a police swoop they said prevented a terror attack.

Danish police said Thursday that they had arrested three people in Denmark.

“It was a group that was planning an act of terror,” Flemming Drejer, head of operations at the PET intelligence service, told a news conference.

Danish news agency Ritzau and public broadcaster DR said the arrests were linked to the organised crime gang ‘Loyal to Familia’, which is banned in Denmark.

Ritzau and DR said the three arrested were two men and a young woman. One of the two men was released, they said.

Anti-Danish sentiment

Over the summer, Denmark and neighbouring Sweden became the target of anger in several Muslim countries after a slew of protests in Scandinavia involving burnings and desecrations of the Koran.

In Iraq, nearly a thousand protesters attempted to march on the Danish embassy in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone in late July following a call by firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr.

Between July 21 and October 24 this year, 483 book burnings or flag burnings were recorded in Denmark, according to national police figures.

In response Denmark’s parliament adopted a law earlier this month that criminalises the burning, tearing or otherwise defiling of religious texts such as the Koran.

In 2006, a wave of anti-Danish anger and violence erupted in the Muslim world following the publication in the small Nordic country of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

And in February 2015 a gunman who had voiced allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group opened fire at a cultural centre in Copenhagen that was hosting a forum on Islam and free speech.

Last year, a Danish court sentenced an IS sympathiser to 16 years in jail for plotting a bomb attack. The verdict was the most severe ever handed down under Denmark’s anti-terrorism laws.

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CRIME

‘More Danes than ever’ victims of digital crime

Almost 190,000 people in Denmark were the victims of IT-related crime in 2023, according to new figures.

'More Danes than ever' victims of digital crime

The number, released by the Danish Crime Prevention Council (Det Kriminalpræventive Råd) represents a significant increase on the previous year’s figure of 150,000.

Denmark’s justice ministry, national police and the University of Copenhagen all work with the Crime Prevention Council in an annual study which tracks the figure through contact with victims.

It represents a trend which is unlikely to slow down in coming years, according to the Council’s director Erik Christensen.

“Technological advances mean that there are more and more doors through which the criminals can walk in relation to scamming us normal members of the public,” he told newswire Ritzau.

The emergence of AI could make it even more likely that people become subjected to digital fraud attempts, he said.

The study found that online payments and abuse of payment information were most common types of fraud defined as IT-related.

But “contact fraud”, in which scammers contact targets by email, telephone or online, is also on the rise.

The figure for that specific type of crime went from 13,000 in 2022 to 47,000 last year.

READ ALSO: Danish courts issue warning over SMS scam

“Our best advice is that if each of us takes good time when we get an email or SMS… and check whether it is [actually] from the Tax Agency, municipality or bank,” Christensen said.

He also advised asking a family member or trusted person for a second opinion before answering any email or SMS, if in doubt.

In the most common type of IT crime – online transactions – some 85,000 people in Denmark last year lost money to scams such as fake web shops or trades with private individuals.

Another form – which hit 64,000 people – involves purchase of a fake or counterfeit item.

Some 76,000 people were victims of having their bank card details stolen and misused, some 19,000 more than in 2022.

“We must move away from shaming people who get scammed because anyone can fall victim to it. Even when you look at these numbers, we know there are also unreported cases,” Christensen said.

The Council director stressed the importance of victims of online fraud not feeling shame over what had happened.

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