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Two teens held in probe of 18-year-old’s killing

Two 16-year-old boys have been detained in connection with last week’s murder of an 18-year-old woman in the Hjällbo district of Gothenburg after police traced the woman’s missing mobile phone.

Published: 4 January 2010 08:41 CET
Updated: 4 January 2010 20:41 CET

The first 16-year-old was taken in for questioning on Saturday and is being held on suspicion of having protected a criminal.

The second teen was questioned by police on Sunday.

Police view the development as a positive step in the investigation over the murdered 18-year-old, who was found severely beaten early on Wednesday morning of last week and later died from her injuries.

“It’s really important. It’s one piece of the puzzle which has fallen into place,” police spokesperson Thomas Fuxborg told the TT news agency.

According to the GT/Expressen newspaper, police located the the first 16-year-old by tracing the missing woman’s mobile phone.

While police refused to comment on the information, sources told the newspaper that the telephone was traced to the neighbourhood where the boy lives.

According to the Aftonbladet newspaper, both of the people held in connection with the killing are 16-years-old, although police also declined to confirm their ages or reveal what the twl said during their interrogations.

Despite the important step forward, police have yet to arrest anyone on suspicions of murdering the woman.

Both boys remain in police custody, although it is unclear if prosecutors will request a formal remand hearing for the two teens.

Police believe the 18-year-old was walking home from a nearby party when the attack occurred. He was found outside a few hundred metres from her home at 2.30am Wednesday morning. She had been subjected to extreme violence.

A broken bottle was found at the scene, and police are still seeking tips about a large bottle of Pommac sparkling cider.

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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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