4 hours ago
6
A senior Swedish diplomat has been arrested on suspicion of espionage, as the security services investigate a potential link to the sudden resignation last week of the government’s national security adviser, local media have reported.
Sweden’s security service (Säpo) said on Tuesday it had arrested a person, identified in media reports as a high-ranking diplomat who had been stationed at several embassies around the world, on suspicion of spying.
According to the Swedish national broadcaster SVT, Säpo is investigating whether there is a connection between the diplomat and the resignation of Tobias Thyberg, a former ambassador to Ukraine. Thyberg was forced to quit as national security adviser on Thursday just hours after being appointed when intimate photos of him from the dating site Grindr were sent to the government.
In a statement, the prosecutor said the unnamed diplomat was suspected of carrying out espionage during the same period that Thyberg was forced out. Thyberg is not suspected of any crime, SVT reported.
He was, very briefly, the replacement for Henrik Landerholm, the former national security adviser who was also forced to resign in January over mislaying classified documents.
Swedish authorities have raised concerns in recent years about increasing threats from foreign powers such as Russia, China and Iran and groups engaging in actions ranging from violent attacks and hybrid warfare to corporate espionage.
In March, Säpo warned that foreign powers were operating in ways that threatened security, using hybrid activities to destabilise Sweden and Europe.
The justice minister, Gunnar Strömmer, told SVT on Tuesday the government had been informed of Säpo’s operation and that the person in custody was suspected “on reasonable grounds” of espionage. Reasonable grounds is the lower of two grades of suspicion in Sweden.
“The investigation has to be carried out and I don’t want to pre-empt it,” Strömmer said in a statement to SVT.
Anton Strand, the lawyer appointed to defend the person in custody, declined to comment.
Säpo said that one person had been arrested after an operation in the Stockholm area and that they were unable to provide further information owing to secrecy.
Karin Lutz, a spokesperson for Säpo, said that while she understood the questions about potential links between the two incidents, she could not comment. “I’ve seen the news and I understand it raises a lot of questions but what we can say is there is one person who has been arrested,” she said.
The prosecutor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reuters contributed to this report.
