Terror suspects were asylum-seekers
STOCKHOLM — Swedes questioned their country’s welcoming immigration policies with pride and pain on Sunday after learning that an asylumseeker from Uzbekistan was allegedly behind the truck rampage that killed four people.
The Swedish capital was slowly, but resolutely, regaining its normal rhythm as details about the 39-year-old 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 truck raced down a street and rammed into a department store on Friday.
“It makes me frustrated,” Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told Swedish news agency TT on Sunday.
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.
Security officials in neighboring Norway, where a 17-year-old asylum-seeker from Russia was detained Sunday in connection with an explosive device found near a subway station, spoke of the potential for a copycat effect.
Norwegian’s security agency said it wasn’t clear if the teen planned to carry out an attack with the primitive homemade device police defused without any injuries. Agency head Benedicte Bjornland said it was likely the youth had been inspired by recent attacks in Europe.
Sweden has long been known for its open-door policy toward migrants and refugees. But after the Scandinavian country of 10 million took in a record 163,000 refugees in 2015 — the highest per-capita rate in Europe — the government has tried to be more selective about which newcomers it allows to stay.
Swedish police said Sunday they had received 12,500 referrals from the Swedish Migration Board of people who, like the suspect in the truck attack, had overstayed their welcome.