COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Sweden’s domestic security firm on Thursday implicated Iran of utilizing recognized criminal networks in Sweden as a proxy to target Israeli or Jewish interests in the Scandinavian nation.
The allegations were raised at a press conference by Daniel Stenling, the head of the SAPO firm’s counterespionage system, following a series of occasions previously this year.
In late January, the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm was sealed after what was then referred to as “a harmful things” was discovered on the premises of the diplomatic objective in an eastern Stockholm community. Swedish media stated the things was a hand grenade.
The embassy was not left and the things was ultimately damaged. No arrests were made and authorities did not state what was discovered. On Might 17, gunshots were heard near the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm and the location was cordoned off. Nobody was apprehended.
Stenling stated, without providing specifics or proof to support his assertion, that the firm “can develop that criminal networks in Sweden are utilized as a proxy by Iran.”
“It is quite about preparing and tries to perform attacks versus Israeli and Jewish interests, objectives and activities in Sweden,” he stated and included that the firm sees “connections in between criminal people in the criminal networks and people who are linked to the Iranian security services.”
Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer and Hampus Nygårds, deputy head of the Swedish cops’s National Operations Department, were likewise at the online press conference with Stenling.
“We see this connection in between the Iranian intelligence services, the security services and specifically lawbreakers in the criminal networks in Sweden,” Stenling stated. “We see that connection and it likewise suggests that we require to work a lot more worldwide to get to the criminal offenses and have the ability to avoid them.”
Stenling and the others made no reference of the current events linked to the Israel Embassy and stopped short of calling any criminal groups or suspects.
Sweden has actually come to grips with gang violence for many years and criminal gangs frequently hire teens in socially disadvantaged immigrant communities to perform hits.
By Might 15, cops have actually tape-recorded 85 shootings up until now this year, consisting of 12 deadly shootings. In 2015, 53 individuals were eliminated and 109 were injured in an overall of 363 shootings.
2 primary gangs — the Foxtrot network headed by Rawa Majid, who resides in exile in Turkey, and its competitor, Rumba — have actually for years been associated with fatal fights. Ankara had actually turned down Sweden’s demand to have Majid, a Swedish person, extradited since he likewise holds Turkish citizenship.
Stenling stated there was no factor to alter the fear danger level in Sweden.
In 2015, it was increased to “high,” the 4th of 5 levels, for the very first time given that 2016 as the security degraded after public burnings of Islam’s holy book, the Quran, that set off demonstrations in the Muslim world.
