Swedish security police arrest a suspect for espionage
STOCKHOLM, September 21 (Reuters) – Sweden’s security service said on Tuesday that it has arrested and detained a person suspected of espionage after a police operation in central Sweden on Monday.
The person, who was not identified by the police, was detained at the lower level of suspicion under the Nordic country’s legal system, the Swedish security service says in a statement.
“The arrest is part of a preliminary investigation by the Swedish security service under the leadership of prosecutors at the national unit for security matters,” it says. “The investigation will now show whether there are sufficient reasons to detain the person.”
No further information about the arrest or the identity of the detainee was revealed by the police.
In the first espionage conviction in decades in Sweden, a court sentenced a man to three years in prison for spying for Russia earlier this month, after making him guilty of selling secret information from the truck manufacturer Scania to an embassy official. Read more
In recent years, the security police have said that security threats against Sweden from foreign powers and violent extremism have increased and are expected to continue to do so in the coming years.
Reporting by Anna Ringström; editing by Niklas Pollard
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