Swedish intelligence on Tuesday announced the arrest of five persons suspected of preparing a “terrorist act” in Sweden in retaliation for a right-wing extremist’s burning of a Koran in January outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
The anti-terrorism bust took place “in a coordinated manner” on Tuesday morning in Eskilstuna, Linköping and Strängnäs, three cities in the centre of the country, Swedish domestic intelligence announced.
The suspects are “considered to have international links to violent Islamist extremism,” specifically Islamic State (ISIS), the Swedish intelligence service, Säpo, said in a statement, noting that “an attack is not considered imminent.”
Säpo’s acting director, Susanna Trehörning, did not provide further details but stressed in the columns of the newspaper Aftonbladet that the case was one of several related to the recent Quran burning under investigation by the intelligence service.
The court will rule on Friday on whether the five people arrested should be remanded into custody.
On 21 January, Swedish-Danish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan set fire to a copy of the Koran in Stockholm under the protection of a police cordon and in front of cameras. His act provoked a series of demonstrations in several Muslim countries and the ire of Ankara, jeopardising Sweden’s bid to join NATO. At the time, the police granted permission for the demonstration, saying it fell within the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression.
In February, however, the police refused to allow similar demonstrations in front of the Turkish and Iraqi embassies, citing the risk of an attack and the security implications for Sweden after the first burning. On Tuesday, a Stockholm court ruled that the refusal was illegal because the threat cited was not sufficiently concrete.
