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Suspect 'wanted to blow himself up in Sweden'

The Local Sweden
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Suspect 'wanted to blow himself up in Sweden'
Attunda district court north of Stockholm. Photo: Maja Suslin/TT

A 20-year-old teaching student in Stockholm is accused of planning to blow himself up in Sweden.

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The man, who was arrested on February 11th, was charged at Attunda District Court in northern Stockholm on Thursday on suspicion of preparing to commit an act of terror.

"He wanted to do something in Sweden," prosecutor Ewamari Häggkvist told the TT newswire.

Police found six bottles of aceton, duct tape, a mobile phone and jars with round bullets during a search of the suspect's home earlier this year. A receipt for Christmas tree lights and surveillance footage showing the man purchasing a pressure cooker are also understood to be part of the investigation.

He is accused of have been trying to build a suicide bomb similar to the ones used in the 2013 Boston Marathon attacks.

The prosecutor said that the man, who denies the charge, had also searched online for information about how to make a bomb and about terror acts carried out by Isis militants.

His relatives are set to testify in the trial, said Häggkvist: "He is said to have said to them that he wanted to kill himself, that he wanted to do something in Sweden and that he wanted to die in the name of God. He himself has said in interrogations that he wanted to become a martyr."

According to the charge sheet, the suspect's alleged purpose had been "to seriously intimidate a people or a group of people and to seriously destabilize or destroy fundamental political, constitutional, financial or social structures in Sweden".

He was stopped in Turkey on two occasions in June 2015, reported TT, but was sent back on both occasions. The prosecutor believes his intention was to travel to Syria to join Isis, which the man denies.

Sweden recently lowered its terror alert after raising it to 'high' for the first time in history in November 2015 in the wake of the attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead. 

An asylum seeker was then swiftly arrested for planning violence in Sweden but was found to be innocent and released without charge and has since sought compensation from the Swedish government.

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