COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Sweden’s domestic security service accused Iran Thursday of using established criminal networks in Sweden as a proxy to target Israeli or Jewish interests in the Scandinavian country.
The accusations were made at a press conference by Daniel Stenling, the head of the SAPO agency’s counterintelligence unit, following a series of events earlier this year.
At the end of January the The Israeli embassy in Stockholm was closed after what was then described as “a dangerous object” was found on the grounds of the diplomatic mission in a neighborhood in eastern Stockholm. Swedish media said the object was a hand grenade.
The embassy was not evacuated and the object was eventually destroyed. No arrests have been made and authorities have not released what was found. On May 17, gunshots were heard near the Israeli embassy in Stockholm and the area was cordoned off. No one was arrested.
Stenling, without providing details or evidence to support his claim, said the agency “can determine that criminal networks in Sweden are being used as a proxy by Iran.”
“It is very much about the planning and attempts to carry out attacks on Israeli and Jewish interests, targets and activities in Sweden,” he said, adding that the agency “sees connections between criminal individuals in the criminal networks and individuals who are connected to the criminal networks.” Iranian security services.”
Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer and Hampus Nygårds, deputy head of the Swedish Police National Operations Department, were also at the online press conference with Stenling.
“We see this connection between the Iranian intelligence services, the security services and precisely criminals in the criminal networks in Sweden,” Stenling said. “We see that connection and it also means that we have to work much more internationally to uncover the crimes. and they can occur.”
Stenling and the others made no mention of the recent incidents linked to the Israeli embassy and did not name any criminal groups or suspects.
Sweden has been struggling with gang violence for years and criminal gangs often recruit teenagers in socially disadvantaged immigrant neighborhoods to carry out attacks.
As of May 15, police have recorded 85 shootings so far this year, including 12 fatal shootings. Last year, 53 people were killed and 109 injured in a total of 363 shootings.
Two major gangs – the Foxtrot network led by Rawa Majid, who lives in exile in Turkey, and his rival Rumba – have been locked in deadly feuds for years. Ankara had rejected Sweden’s request to extradite Majid, a Swedish citizen, because he also has Turkish nationality.
Stenling said there is no reason to change the level of terror threat in Sweden.
Last year it was raised to ‘high’, the fourth of five levels, for the first time since 2016, as security deteriorated after public burnings of Islam’s holy book, the Quran, sparked protests in the Muslim world.
