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CRIME

Two arrested for Christmas Eve killing

Two men have been arrested for their involvement in the murder of a 26-year-old man at a refugee centre in Sundsvall on Christmas Eve.

Published: 28 December 2008 08:04 CET

Police continue to search for two additional suspects.

Both suspects, aged 27 and 20, were arrested by police in Stockholm on Friday and Saturday. On Saturday, they were transported north to Sundsvall where they will be questioned by police.

“They are two of those who were at the scene of the crime. We’re looking for two more who were also involved in the matter,” said Västernorrland police spokesperson Christer Johansson to the TT news agency.

Early in the morning of Christmas Eve, police received a report of a stabbing in an apartment used by the Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket) in the Fagerdal residential area of Sundsvall.

In the apartment, police found a 36-year-old man dead and another man injured.

“We’re hoping that he can identify those who’ve been arrested,” said Johansson.

Police on Södermalm in Stockholm received a tip at the weekend from someone who claimed to know who was involved in the killing.

The tipster’s account supported the story police received from the injured man found in the apartment by police.

Johansson told TT on Friday that the injured man told police that he and the murder victim were attacked by three of four men who forced themselves into the apartment.

The man said he became frightened and fled into a neighbouring apartment at which point he then called police.

Police have also found the murder weapon, but refused to comment on to a motive for the attack.

“That isn’t something we’re going to get into,” said Johansson.

Is Sweden meeting its 30-day work permit target for high-skilled foreigners?

More than 7,750 work permit applications have been submitted to Sweden’s Migration Agency since a new system designed to speed up waiting times for skilled workers was implemented.

The new system, rolled out on January 29th, divides workers into four different categories depending on their profession. It was introduced after complaints about long waits for both first-time and renewed work permits and promised to process the top category, “A”, within 30 days.

Category A applications are those already classified as “highly qualified” under the Standard for Swedish Classification of Occupations (SSYK), and include leadership roles, roles requiring higher university education, and roles requiring university education or equivalent.

A Migration Agency spokesperson told The Local that a total of 95 percent of complete work permit applications sent in by highly qualified workers since January 29th were processed within 30 days, with a median handling time of 14 days, according to figures from April 15th.

“Our ambition is to decide cases for highly qualified labour within 30 days – sometimes it happens that the application isn’t complete and that can make the processing time longer,” the spokesperson said.

By mid-April, the Migration Agency had processed 4,461 complete applications, 550 incomplete applications and 423 applications for permanent residency which were complete but had to wait for a decision because the applicant’s previous permit hadn’t yet expired.

Around 77 percent of incomplete applications were processed within 30 days.

A Migration Agency spokesperson told The Local that there may be various reasons why an application is incomplete, but “common mistakes” include passports lacking a signature, incorrect information about accommodation when needed, no or not enough information about the applicant’s insurances, or no statement from the trade union about working conditions.

The spokesperson also said that the four percent of complete applications that didn’t get processed within a month were delayed because of, for example, the applicant failing to visit an embassy to show their passport before the deadline, having a criminal record in Sweden that required further investigation of their application, or the security police blocking their application.

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