Police say 39-year-old man from Uzbekistan detained on Friday is suspected of being driver as explosives reportedly found in cab of vehicle
The driver of a hijacked beer delivery truck that careered into crowds on Stockholm’s largest shopping street, killing four and injuring many more, is believed to be a 39-year-old man from Uzbekistan previously known to the security services.
Police in Sweden’s capital confirmed that a man had been arrested “on suspicion of a terrorist crime through murder” after the attack on Friday afternoon, which saw the haulage vehicle drive down a pedestrianised street in the capital before crashing into a department store.
Karin Rosander, a communications director at the Swedish prosecution authority, said that police suspected the arrested man had carried out the attack. He continued to be detained on Saturday.
The country’s national police chief, Dan Eliason, confirmed reports that the suspect was aged 39 and from the central Asian country. He added that he had previously been named in security information but was not recently under investigation, describing the suspect as “a more marginal character”.
Anders Thornberg, head of the Swedish security service, said: “The suspect didn’t appear in our recent files but he earlier has been in our files.”
He said the security services were working with other nations’ security agencies on the matter, but declined to elaborate.
About 15 people were injured and four killed in the attack launched on Drottninggatan, one of the city’s main public thoroughfares. Five of the injured had been released from hospital by Saturday morning but ten remained under care, including a child.
Police sources reportedly told the Swedish broadcaster SVT that a bag of explosives was found in the truck and a bomb disposal unit was deployed overnight. They added that the devices had not been detonated and it is claimed the suspect had “burned himself”. Officials declined to confirm the reports but added that a device of some kind had been found in the truck.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...r-truck-deaths
