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Greece jails two Swedes who tried to enter Turkey with weapons

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Greece jails two Swedes who tried to enter Turkey with weapons
The two men were arrested near the border with Turkey. Photo: Emrah Gurel/AP

Two Swedish passport holders who tried to enter Turkey carrying combat items have been handed 15-year prison sentences by a Greek court.

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On Friday the court handed the sentences to the two suspected jihadists, who have refugee status in Sweden, after they tried to enter Turkey carrying the items.

The suspects' lawyer said the men would appeal against the sentence. They will remain incarcerated until their next trial, a date for which was not given.

The pair -- Mirsad Bektasevic, a 29-year-old of Bosnian descent, along with a 19-year-old of Yemeni origin who has not been named -- were caught in January 2016 near the border with Turkey.

Inside their luggage police found two machetes, army uniforms and other combat paraphernalia.

The suspects insist the items had been legally purchased in Athens as souvenirs.

Bektasevic, who was born in Sarajevo but grew up near Gothenburg, had been arrested in Bosnia in 2005 after a police raid at his house found a suicide belt, explosives and a video showing a man with a covered face threatening terrorist acts against the US Capitol and the White House.

He was sentenced to up to 14 years in Bosnian prison, but was released in 2011.

READ ALSO: Two Swedish jihadists arrested in Greece

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