Scandinavian terror stories

Several stories regarding terrorism in Scandinavia that I ran into recently:

Al-Qaeda recruiting Swedish interpreters

The security police is seriously looking at the campaign. "We will investigate the case" says Säpo (Swedish Security Service) information director, Anders Thornberg.

On many Islamic homepages, among them al-Hisba, the terror network Al-Qaeda is advertising for translators for 11 languages, among them Swedish. It isn't clear why Al-Qaeda is looking for Swedish translators. But terror experts believe that Al-Quaeda wants to reach a wider public.

"Swedish is one of the languages which have flourished in this context. They realize the power of sites in different languages and this will help radicalize people," says professor Magnus Ranstorp.

Ranstorp thinks that Säpo and other security services know the contents of Islamic homepages, but want to keep them secret.

"There is a secret war against terrorism in cyberspace. The terrorists want to propograte and the security services want to fight them in different ways," says Ranstorp.

A part of that ongoing cyber-war is Al-Qaeda's attempt to infiltrate the free encyclopedia Wikipedia, by changing and addition information. That's according to the Arabic newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat.

Source: Expressen (Swedish), h/t FOMI (Swedish)

See also: Sweden: 17 year old girl Somali fighter released, Somalia: European fighters in custody


Denmark: Open door for bio-terrorists

Denmark is inadvertently risking providing materials for bio-terrorism. Today the doors are literally wide open at many public and private bio-technological research laboratories, outsiders can get access without problem to anthrax spores and plague bacteria, viruses and poisons. That's according to a not yet made public investigation, says Ingeniøren paper.

Among other things storage freezers with dangerous biological materials are unlocked and in several cases there is free access to most research laboratories.

Currently a work group at Beredskabsstyrelsen (the Danish Emergency Management Agency) is preparing a series of recommendations on how to secure dangerous biological materials in Denmark.

Source: Jyllands-Posten (Danish)


Norway: TV 2 reporter keeps job


A female TV 2 which had a relationship with the 29 year old terror suspect will keep her job, reports VG.

The reporter went on unpaid leave from her position in 2007, confirms news director Kjell Øvre Helland to the paper. The reporter sought leave at the end of sickness leave and the request was accepted.

Helland confirmed that she would be able to come back to her job after the leave is out.

The relationship between the reporter and terror suspect came to light when police last fall wants to jail the 29-year old and three other man for firing at a synagogue in Oslo.

Source: Dagbladet (Norwegian)

See also: Norway: Terror or crime


Norway: More on terror threats

The 48 year old man accused of terror threats against a judicial committee in charge of reviewing his case had threatened to put bombs in kindergartens, theaters and train stations. The 48 year old is originally an asylum seeker from Iran and threatened with explosions like those in London, Madrid and the USA.

Source: Aftenposten (Norwegian)

See also: Norway: Threatening with terror

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