Sweden arrests man suspected of preparing terror attack

After raids in Gothenburg, security services offer no details on motive or identity of would-be terrorist, but say his activities had ‘international links’

STOCKHOLM — A man has been arrested in western Sweden on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack, the country’s security services said Thursday.

The SAPO agency said “preparations for the suspected terrorist offense have been underway for some time” and added that “there are international links.” It did not elaborate.

The person was not identified.

Several raids were carried out early Thursday in western Sweden and several people were brought in for questioning.

The Goteborg Tidning newspaper says the raids took place in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest city, and in suburbs to its north.

The operation was not linked to the jihadist attack in Strasbourg, France, that left two dead, one person brain dead and 12 others injured on Wednesday, SAPO’s Gabriel Wernstedt told the Swedish daily Aftonbladet.

Sweden’s terror threat remained unchanged at elevated — the third level on a five-degree scale, meaning that an attack can occur, SAPO said.

Two attacks have hit Sweden in the past eight years.

On April 7, 2017, an Uzbek man drove a stolen truck into a crowd in Stockholm, killing five people and wounding 14 others. He was convicted of terror-related murder and given a life sentence.

In December 2010, a suicide bomber blew himself up in downtown Stockholm among panicked Christmas shoppers, injuring two people.