British Anti-Terror Raids in Sweden

May 31st, 2006 at 17:54 Björn Hallberg

Though the details are under wraps and veiled in security nonsense, there are many who would like to know what exactly took place in Gothenburg, Sweden last week. And why. Not to mention what sort of urgent reasons the British had to cite in order to get the relatively complicated operation moving and under whose jurisdiction the investigation is really being conducted.

Swedish authorities maintain that it happens all the time. That is to say, these rogatory letters happen all the time. But it usually involves actual, urgent crimes and not “thought,” “hate” or “glorification” offenses. Nor does it seem likely that these issues are always tended to by the security police and that they are in turn backed up by an equal number of, in this case, British colleagues. They claim the Brits were needed to make sure that pertinent evidence was collected. Because obviously, the security police couldn’t figure it out. I bet that though they are perfectly capable of carrying out a search and seizure, they were just as dumbfounded by the aims of the operation. Especially since the main suspect had issued bona fide death threats against at least one Swedish celebrity Christian (though in his defense, it was a particularly loathsome Christian) in the last year. If that weren’t prioritized, then why would we fall over ourselves to aid the UK in such a trivial matter (as being “mentioned in an email”) now. Of course, the secrecy of the matter prohibits any real in depth analysis, but the matter’s awkwardness is indicative of wrongdoing.

To be clear and to the point, it would seem that this had nothing to do with European law and was strictly a matter between the UK and Sweden. Nothing unusual about that per se. What is unusual is the new tyrannical “anti-terrorist” legislation passed in the UK and the suspicion that it somehow plays a part here. And so the real question becomes whether Sweden, or any other country for that matter, should choose to aid foreign powers even under such unconventional circumstances and using such unconventional laws. Every state has its legal peculiarities but we don’t honor them willy-nilly. Lets say some nation, where homosexuality was illegal and actively prosecuted, sent a rogatory letter requesting Swedish cooperation in tracking down and seizing pro-homosexuality literature from expats. Would we be so quick to rush to their aid then?

I sure hope someone feels good about themselves now that they’ve almost made Sweden a part of the “war on terrrrrrrrrr” again. I have to suspect there are those out there eager to bring Sweden into the fold as well. But alas, this is the best “terrorist” they can come up with.

SR International goes on to note that

The newspaper “Metro” reports that the 28 year old Swedish Moslem taken into custody by British and Swedish anti-terrorist police in Gothenburg last week has a past as a neo-Nazi.

“Metro” says as a 15 year old he was part of a skinhead gang. According to the report, he left the gang in his 20’s when he went to prison, where he converted to Islam.

The 28 year old, who has praised suicide bombers in online chatrooms, reportedly came to attention of the British police when he was mentioned in an e-mail from a British prisoner convicted for terrorist crimes.

So if you’ve ever done anything suspect, expressed political incorrectness or you’re mentioned by the wrong people, you’re done for. Especially if you, like Abu Usama el Swede (I kid you not!) fall into the somewhat unhinged patsy category. Reminds you of a certain Moussaoui doesn’t it.

Entry 556 filed under: Europe. This entry was posted 2 years, 6 months ago. RSS feed for comments on this post.