Swedish security service Säpo say they have arrested five radical Islamists in a short period of time, with one of those arrested being one of the main leaders of an Islamic school in western Sweden.
The principal of the school said that the arrest of the man, whose identity was not published in a report by Swedish broadcaster SVT, would not affect the functioning of the school itself, refusing to comment further on the matter.
Lawyer Lars-Erik Olsson, who previously represented the arrested man, said, “We have not had any contact now, and I also do not know if he will have the opportunity to contact me,” adding, “It does not take much for you to be designated when you are a Muslim.”
Gabriel Wernstedt, press secretary at Säpo, was also tight-lipped on the case, saying, “We never comment on individuals when it comes to our intelligence work.”
Wernstedt did not comment on the fact that several radical imams in Sweden have also been detained.
One of the Imams detained is Riyad Al-Duhan, also known as Abo Raad, who was arrested last month and served as imam for a mosque in the city of Gävle. The imam is known as a proponent of the strict Salafist school of Islamic thought and has been in Sweden for 20 years, but has been rejected for citizenship twice.
The spread of Islamic radicalism has been a major issue in Sweden for several years, with reports showing huge growth in the number of radicals. Swedish researcher Peder Hyllengren of the Swedish Defence College claimed the country had become a base for international jihadists.
Another report from Sweden’s National Centre for Terror Threat Assessment (NCT) released in March 2019 acknowledged that Islamic terrorism was still the number one security threat to Sweden despite victories against the Islamic State terror group in the Middle East.