Security forces in Sweden on Tuesday arrested five people suspected of plotting to carry out »terrorist crimes» in response to the burning of a copy of the Koran by a far-right politician during a protest in the capital, Stockholm.
The Swedish Security Service has indicated in a statement that »the operation has been carried out after intensive intelligence and investigative work by the police», before detailing that it has taken place in the towns of Eskilstuna, Linkping and Strangnas.
»The suspicions are related to plans for terrorist crimes in Sweden,» she said, before stressing that the authorities »do not consider that an attack was imminent». The police often need to intervene at an early stage to prevent the threat,» explained Susanna Trehorning, the second-in-command of the police counter-terrorism department.
«We cannot wait for a crime to take place before we act. The current case is one of many that the police have been working on following the protests in Sweden in connection with the burning of a Koran in January and international calls for attacks,» Trehorning added.
The burning of a copy of the Koran by far-right extremist Rasmus Paludan during a protest in January sparked a wave of international condemnation from Muslim-majority countries, while extremist groups called on his followers to carry out attacks.
As part of these condemnations, Turkey announced that it was suspending talks to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership, which it demanded along with Finland. Ankara did not interrupt the process in the case of Helsinki, which will join the Atlantic Alliance on Tuesday.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
