Swedish immigration policy under microscope

STOCKHOLM — Swedes questioned their country’s welcoming immigration policies yesterday after learning that an asylum seeker from Uzbekistan is the suspect behind the truck rampage that killed four people, Stockholm’s deadliest extremist attack in years.

The Swedish capital was slowly, but resolutely, regaining its normal rhythm as details about the 39-yearold suspect in the attack emerged. Police said he had been ordered to leave Sweden in December because his request for a residence permit was rejected six months earlier.

Instead, he allegedly went underground, eluding authorities’ attempts to track down and deport him until a hijacked beer truck raced down a pedestrian street and rammed into an upscale department store on Friday.

“It makes me frustrated,” Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told Swedish news agency TT.

The suspect, who has been detained on suspicion of terrorist offenses, was known for having “been sympathetic to extremist organizations,” Jonas Hysing of Sweden’s national police said.

A second person was arrested on the same potential charge yesterday, and four others were being held by police. None of them has been identified.

Security officials in neighboring Norway detained a 17-year-old asylumseeker from Russia early yesterday in connection with an explosive device found near a busy subway station, which was defused by police. Agency head Benedicte Bjornland said it was likely the youth had been inspired by recent attacks in Stockholm, France, Germany, Britain and Russia.