Police seize weapons 'en route to Swedish militants'
Six people have been arrested on suspicion of smuggling weapons to radical Islamists in Sweden, Bosnian Serb authorities said on Friday.
Five of the suspected weapon smugglers were seized in the towns Gradiska and Laktasi in Republika Srpska, according to its interior ministry. Authorities further stated that another person had "previously" been arrested in Sweden, while another two remained at large.
Five arrests were made by Bosnian-Serbian anti-terrorism officials on Thursday, said officials, after large quantities of military-grade weapons were found during police raids.
A spokesperson said the arrests were carried out as part of Swedish-run operation called 'Varg RS', but Swedish authorities would not confirm nor comment on the police raids.
"We have no comments to this information at present. We await more information from Bosnia," national police spokesperson Carolina Ekéus told the TT news agency.
A spokesperson for Sweden's security police Säpo also declined to comment.
According to claims in Bosnian Serb media cited by TT, police suspect that the smugglers had intended to deliver the weapons to a group in Sweden called 'Muslim Brothers'.
It was not immediately known whether or not the group was linked to the islamist movement the Muslim Brotherhood, which has its roots in Egypt.
Terror experts as well as police and Sweden's Interior Minister Anders Ygeman have previously spoken about the illegal arms trade route from the Balkans to Sweden.
“What makes us notice criminality more is the amount of illegal weapons in the city. We seize far more weapons and we notice that they are much more accessible than before,” Mats Karlsson of the Malmö police told Danish newspaper Berlingske last summer.
Comments
See Also
Five of the suspected weapon smugglers were seized in the towns Gradiska and Laktasi in Republika Srpska, according to its interior ministry. Authorities further stated that another person had "previously" been arrested in Sweden, while another two remained at large.
Five arrests were made by Bosnian-Serbian anti-terrorism officials on Thursday, said officials, after large quantities of military-grade weapons were found during police raids.
A spokesperson said the arrests were carried out as part of Swedish-run operation called 'Varg RS', but Swedish authorities would not confirm nor comment on the police raids.
"We have no comments to this information at present. We await more information from Bosnia," national police spokesperson Carolina Ekéus told the TT news agency.
A spokesperson for Sweden's security police Säpo also declined to comment.
According to claims in Bosnian Serb media cited by TT, police suspect that the smugglers had intended to deliver the weapons to a group in Sweden called 'Muslim Brothers'.
It was not immediately known whether or not the group was linked to the islamist movement the Muslim Brotherhood, which has its roots in Egypt.
Terror experts as well as police and Sweden's Interior Minister Anders Ygeman have previously spoken about the illegal arms trade route from the Balkans to Sweden.
“What makes us notice criminality more is the amount of illegal weapons in the city. We seize far more weapons and we notice that they are much more accessible than before,” Mats Karlsson of the Malmö police told Danish newspaper Berlingske last summer.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.