Two Swedish converts to Islam who were arrested by Stockholm’s SÄPO security agency in March had planned to attack synagogues and other Jewish targets on behalf of Islamic State, according to local media reports on Tuesday.
The suspects, identified as two brothers in their 20s, swore allegiance to the Somali branch of the terrorist organization and acquired a weapon at a “basement mosque” near their home in Tyresö, a suburb southeast of the Swedish capital, the Dagens Nyheter newspaper reported.
According to the charges, the older brother, 25, played a central role in the plot. He was said to have been told to recruit potential terrorists to kill as many “infidels” as possible. In February, the suspect allegedly tried to travel to Somalia to join ISIS, but was stopped in Turkey and sent back after authorities became suspicious of his one-way ticket.
The younger suspect, 23, is also suspected of being a member of a terror group. He is also said to have acted on behalf of ISIS and, among other charges, was said to have helped his brother in enlisting terrorists.
A Spanish terror suspect who was arrested as part of the probe was cited as describing the 25-year-old as “extremely radicalized and violent” in a closed chat group in December 2023. The Swedish suspect repeatedly called other members “hypocrites” and urged them to carry out attacks.
Dagens Nyheter quoted from wiretaps that indicated the two Swedes planned attacks on Jewish houses of worship and community centers. The older brother called the possibility that children would be killed in the attacks “collateral damage,” according to the Swedish daily.
The newspaper noted that the 23-year-old suspect was employed as a substitute teacher by the Tyresö municipality, despite indications of his radical and violent views, that developed following his 2023 conversion. The older brother converted at age 15 after encounters with “immigrant youth,” with his faith radicalizing during a stint in prison, family said.
On June 3, an unexploded bomb was found outside the Gothenburg offices of Elbit Systems Sweden, a local subsidiary of Israel’s largest defense contractor. A day later, security forces were again called to the scene after two suspicious individuals were detected at the premises.
The two were arrested and found to be carrying an explosive weighing about 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds). They were subsequently charged with “aggravated unlawful threat” and “attempted destruction causing public endangerment” for placing the explosive device at the scene.
On Oct. 10, a gunman opened fire at the Elbit office. Nobody was wounded in the attack, police spokesman August Brandt told local media. A minor under the age of 15 was apprehended at the scene.
That same month, two explosions, likely caused by hand grenades, occurred close to the Jewish state’s embassy in Denmark, days after gunfire was heard in the vicinity of its diplomatic mission in Sweden.
SÄPO has said that the Islamic Republic of Iran may have been behind the recent terror attacks on Israeli targets in the Scandinavian country.
In May, the agency confirmed that Tehran was recruiting members of Swedish criminal gangs to commit “acts of violence” against Israelis.
Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency has also suggested that the Islamic Republic is behind a series of terrorist attacks carried out by criminal groups targeting Israeli missions across Europe, including in Sweden.
(JNS)