Sweden Arrests 2 Suspected Spies in Predawn Raid

In a predawn raid Tuesday in the Stockholm region, Swedish authorities detained two people on suspicion of spying.

The authorities provided scant information regarding the case, but witnesses who saw elite police rappel from two Black Hawk helicopters to apprehend a couple who had allegedly spied for Russia were quoted by Swedish media.

One of the two was charged with "gross illegal intelligence actions against Sweden and against a foreign power," according to Sweden's prosecution authority. The authority made no mention to the purported target nation.

The operation, which involved house searches, was carried out, according to Sweden's security service, with the cooperation of the police and the Swedish Armed Forces, which provided helicopters. A probe "has been continuing for some time," according to the intelligence agency.

The stories were not immediately confirmed by the Associated Press.

According to Fredrik Hultgren Friberg of Sweden's domestic security agency, SAPO, "there was a need to immediately arrest the individuals," he told the tabloid Aftonbladet.

Operation Spear, which was conducted in a building south of Stockholm, according to Stefan Hector, head of the Swedish police national operative department, took less than a minute. He claimed that this was necessary because the suspects "should not be able to flush anything down the toilet or destroy computers."

The events on Tuesday come after the detention of two brothers of Iranian descent who were arrested earlier this month in Sweden on suspicion of spying for Russia. Both of them were naturalised Swedes, and one of them was employed by Sweden's internal spy service. They were accused of espionage between 2011 and 2021 for the GRU, Russia's military intelligence service.

The prosecution team emphasised that the Tuesday development had nothing to do with the prior case.