Terror suspect ‘planned attack in Stockholm’

From the Swedish edition of The Local

UPDATED: Police are questioning Moder Mothama Magid, a 22-year-old Iraqi man arrested on Thursday night, who is accused of planning to launch a terror attack on the Swedish capital. A document handed to Stockholm District Court by prosecutor Hans Ihrman on Friday states that a suspected terror attack was intended to be carried out in Stockholm, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported just after midday.

The paperwork names the man arrested as Moder Mothama Magid, 22 years old. It lists his nationality as ‘unknown’, despite numerous reports in Swedish media claiming he is of Iraqi descent.

He was discovered on Thursday at housing for asylum seekers in Boliden in northern Sweden, run by the Swedish Migration Agency, close to the city of Skellefteå.On Friday afternoon council and police representatives in Skellefteå held a press conference in the small city and reassured locals that they were not believed to have been at risk.However Skellefteå council chief Kristina Sundin Jonsson said that more resources had been allocated to school counselling services in case children or parents at a school near the asylum accommodation were still worried.

Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist confirmed in an interview with the Expressen tabloid that more terror suspects were believed to be at large, and were being hunted by security police in the Nordic country. However, when asked by other Swedish media later on Friday he refused to elaborate.

The man’s arrest came a day after authorities revealed a massive hunt was under way for a suspected terrorist, as they raised Sweden’s national terror threat level to a record high.

Earlier on Thursday a grainy picture of a man believed to be the suspect was shared widely in media across Sweden. Police told The Local that the same picture had been distributed to officers.

The suspect is believed to have been living in Sweden since September. Aftonbladet reported that he handed in an application for asylum at the Migration Agency’s centre in Märsta near Stockholm, although that has yet to be officially confirmed.

The tabloid added he was taken from Skellefteå to Stockholm to be questioned in the capital, where the investigation will be carried out, on Friday afternoon.

Säpo has said that the man’s alleged activities are not thought to be linked to the Paris attacks last week,