Swedish police chief probed after saying: Kick out extremists

A SWEDISH police chief is facing investigation after claiming that extremists who have been granted asylum should be deported following the Stockholm terror attack.

As debate over the country’s asylum rules intensified yesterday, the head of its second-largest metropolitan force said taxpayers were supporting enemies of democracy.

Erik Nord, chief of Gothenburg Police, said Islamic extremists had abused Sweden’s liberal policies in order to set up a base to spread propaganda.

‘We should function like at a dinner table,’ he said. ‘If a guest is behaving badly, they should leave and go home. Likewise, those who want to overthrow the government need to go home.’

But his words drew a stern response from Sweden’s attorney general, Morgan Johansson, who vowed to launch an investigation. He said: ‘I will ask the police chief to explain himself. And he will. Those who have visas have gained them because they are in need of protection.’

His remarks came amid claims that Rakhmat Akilov, the failed asylum seeker from Uzbekistan behind Friday’s attack, had concocted a web of lies during his application for residency.

Despite being told to leave, he evaded officials before using a 30ton truck to mow down shoppers in a copycat of the attack in Westminster last month, killing four including 41- year- old British music executive Chris Bevington.

Revelations about the deportation failure prompted Sweden’s prime minister to pledge an over- haul of the country’s liberal approach to migration. Politicians also called for greater powers to monitor failed asylum seekers.

Mr Nord’s outspoken intervention intensified the debate, after he bolstered calls for a tough regime to strip asylum status from those who show extremist ten- dencies and fail to integrate. The police chief said on Twitter: ‘Not that it would have stopped Friday night’s attack, but shouldn’t we be able to withdraw visas from those who support violent extremism?’ He said the attack – in which an 11-year- old Swedish girl and a Belgian tourist were among those killed – proved the country faced a ‘new reality’.

‘It is appalling that we allow these men who are on the border of extremism to spread propaganda here and wave the [Islamic State] flag,’ he said. Mr Nord added that the country’s over- generous asylum system made a mockery of those who had genuinely fled despicable conditions in war-torn countries such as Syria.

‘ These [ extremists] are not Swedish citizens,’ he told local media. ‘They live here and are supported by the Swedish taxpayers. Meanwhile, their biggest dream is to abolish the democracy which supports them.’

It was claimed yesterday that attack suspect Akilov, 39 – who had been on the radar of intelligence services – used numerous aliases and lied about being a victim of torture. He told officials he had been arrested during a demonstration in Uzbekistan and subjected to degrading treatment for nine days by police.

But the authorities decided that he had exaggerated the story after finding no evidence.

He has expressed support for terror groups including IS, and is due to be charged tomorrow.

Akilov’s court-appointed lawyer Johan Eriksson revealed that he had been dropped by the suspect – who demanded to be represented by a Sunni Muslim.

‘Spread propaganda and wave the IS flag’