Malmö driving school hit by blast: 'We want to know why this happened'
Richard Orange - [email protected]
Published: 24 Apr, 2019 CET.
Updated: Wed 24 Apr 2019 11:47 CET
The owner of the Malmö driving school badly damaged by an explosion on Tuesday night has told The Local he has not been subject to any extortion requests and knows of no reason why his business would be a target.
"I've got no idea why. Perhaps you can tell me," Jörgen Rodian, owner of Erikssons Trafikskola, told The Local, as he worked to tidy up the smashed door and windows at the school's entrance on Malmö's Nobeltorget Square.
The powerful blast, which went off just before midnight, could be heard across the city, from the central station to seaside suburb of Limhamn. It blew away the front doors to the driving school, shattered windows and left a small crater in the concrete steps.
The steps to the school were badly damaged. Photo: Richard Orange/The Local
Nobody was injured in the explosion, which came just over a week after another blast just four doors down on Nobelvägen, the same Malmö street, left a 12-year-old girl with minor injuries. The garage hit is also used by Erikssons, as well as by residents of nearby apartments.
Last November, two driving schools, in Persborg and in Norra grängesbergsgatan, were also hit by explosions.
No arrests had been made by noon on Wednesday, and Nils Norling, press spokesman for the Malmö police, said it was too early to determine if the attacks were related.
"We can't say that we see any immediate connection, but of course this is very close geographically and also close when you talk about time," he said of the two recent attacks. "We have to analyze the small leftovers we have from the explosions to see if there's any connection there."
He said that it was possible that the attacks were linked to gangland extortion attempts.
"We have quite a big problem in Malmö with extortion and we know that a lot of small business owners are being extorted," he said. "We have to look very carefully to see if there might be extortion behind it."
Rodian told The Local that had never been contacted by anyone trying to extort payments.
"No, I've heard nothing, nothing at all," he said. "What should I be worried about?"
He said that he believed that it was a coincidence that three driving schools had been hit by such similar attacks, and added that did not think the two recent attacks had been targeted at his business.
He pointed out that someone also appeared to have tried to break down the door of the hairdressers next door to him.
Inside the driving school on Wednesday, pupils and instructors were continuing with their lessons as normal.
"We employees and our students also want to know why this has happened," Per Nilsson, one of the instructors, told The Local. "It's very strange."
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"I've got no idea why. Perhaps you can tell me," Jörgen Rodian, owner of Erikssons Trafikskola, told The Local, as he worked to tidy up the smashed door and windows at the school's entrance on Malmö's Nobeltorget Square.
The powerful blast, which went off just before midnight, could be heard across the city, from the central station to seaside suburb of Limhamn. It blew away the front doors to the driving school, shattered windows and left a small crater in the concrete steps.
The steps to the school were badly damaged. Photo: Richard Orange/The Local
Nobody was injured in the explosion, which came just over a week after another blast just four doors down on Nobelvägen, the same Malmö street, left a 12-year-old girl with minor injuries. The garage hit is also used by Erikssons, as well as by residents of nearby apartments.
Last November, two driving schools, in Persborg and in Norra grängesbergsgatan, were also hit by explosions.
No arrests had been made by noon on Wednesday, and Nils Norling, press spokesman for the Malmö police, said it was too early to determine if the attacks were related.
"We can't say that we see any immediate connection, but of course this is very close geographically and also close when you talk about time," he said of the two recent attacks. "We have to analyze the small leftovers we have from the explosions to see if there's any connection there."
He said that it was possible that the attacks were linked to gangland extortion attempts.
"We have quite a big problem in Malmö with extortion and we know that a lot of small business owners are being extorted," he said. "We have to look very carefully to see if there might be extortion behind it."
Rodian told The Local that had never been contacted by anyone trying to extort payments.
"No, I've heard nothing, nothing at all," he said. "What should I be worried about?"
He said that he believed that it was a coincidence that three driving schools had been hit by such similar attacks, and added that did not think the two recent attacks had been targeted at his business.
He pointed out that someone also appeared to have tried to break down the door of the hairdressers next door to him.
Inside the driving school on Wednesday, pupils and instructors were continuing with their lessons as normal.
"We employees and our students also want to know why this has happened," Per Nilsson, one of the instructors, told The Local. "It's very strange."
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