Danish police helping Sweden to find terrorist suspect

Anders Thornberg, Director General of Säpo, called a press conference yesterday evening telling reporters that a person suspected of plotting a terror attack had been “arrested in absentia”, meaning police were still looking for him. Just hours after Denmark raised its threat level on Wednesday, police evacuated one of two terminals at Copenhagen’s Kastrup Airport after two men were overheard talking about a bomb in one of their bags.

The agency said authorities did not know where, when or how any attack could be carried out. Swedish police said they had increased their presence in “strategic and public places”, including foreign embassies, following the raising of the threat assessment level.

“The attacks in Paris on November 13 show that Daesh may have an increased ability to carry out even relatively complex attacks in Europe”.

“The decision to raise the threat level is partly based on the fact that our Service has received specific information which we must act upon as part of our counter-terrorism remit”. Rantala said that evaluation of threat levels is an ongoing process, with officers pondering the correct threat level every day.

The last time Sweden raised its terror alert level was in 2010 in the wake of threats against the artist Lars Viks, known for drawing the Prophet Mohammed.

Prosecutors have also started a preliminary investigation into preparations to commit terrorism.

“The man is being actively searched for”, Thornberg said, refusing to confirm media reports the suspect is an Iraqi who has fought in Syria.

The government’s coordinator on tackling violent extremism, Mona Sahlin, voiced worries that Daesh-related attacks “could actually happen in Sweden”, and said that more needs to be done by the government on the legislative side to tackle such threats.

It did not elaborate but a news conference was planned for later Wednesday. And there are parts of Swedish society who don’t consider that jihadism is a problem here.