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Two arrested after Stockholm shopping centre is evacuated over suspected explosive object

Police have arrested two men on suspicion of breaching Sweden's flammable and explosive items law after a suspected explosive was found at a Stockholm shopping centre.

Published: 17 July 2018 17:03 CEST
Two arrested after Stockholm shopping centre is evacuated over suspected explosive object
The Gallerian shopping mall in Stockholm. Photo: Henrik Montgomery/TT

The two men were arrested in the vicinity of the Gallerian shopping mall in central Stockholm on Tuesday and the building was evacuated for just over an hour while a police bomb squad removed the object for examination.

A Stockholm police press spokesperson said they would not comment on the matter. When asked by The Local if there was any danger to the public, they replied however that “if we had made that assessment we would have said it”.

Nor would police comment on a report in tabloid Aftonbladet that the suspected explosive was a “hand grenade-like object” found on one of the men while being searched by the mall's security guards.

Sweden has been struggling to crack down on the possession and use of hand grenades and illegal weapons by gangs in recent years, with explosives in circulation dating from the Yugoslav wars.

The Swedish government has proposed an amnesty between October 2018 and January 2019 in an effort to get grenades off Swedish streets.

READ ALSO: Why Swedish gangs use hand grenades (and what the country is doing about it)

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TRAVEL NEWS

Stockholm’s Bromma Airport’s future in doubt after it loses 90 percent of air traffic

The future of Stockholm's second airport, Bromma, is in doubt after regional airline BRA struck a deal with SAS that will move nearly all flights to Arlanda Airport.

Published: 17 September 2024 13:13 CEST
Stockholm's Bromma Airport's future in doubt after it loses 90 percent of air traffic

As of January 1st, BRA will operate flights on behalf of SAS with Stockholm’s principal airport Arlanda as a hub, the two airlines announced in separate press releases.

As a result, around 90 percent of air traffic will disappear from Bromma airport, according to the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.

“I don’t think the airport will survive without us,” Per G Braathen, president of the BRA airline, told a press conference.

“We have been present at Bromma for 25 years and it is not profitable to run this airport. We need to concentrate on Arlanda,” he added.

The deal with SAS extends for over seven years and is worth around six billion kronor (530 million euros), BRA said in a statement.

The airline added that its fleet would be expanded and “more pilots and cabin crew will be recruited”, while ground services and administrative functions would be reduced.

The integration of BRA’s fleet with SAS will enhance Swedish infrastructure but is also “positioning Arlanda as a stronger central hub for domestic and international travel”, SAS CEO Anko van der Werff said in a statement.

Jonas Abrahamsson, CEO of Swedavia which operates Sweden’s airports, said that Tuesday’s announcement meant that domestic flights would now be concentrated on Arlanda.

“Bromma in principle will be without scheduled services,” Abrahamsson said in a statement.

He added that while many travellers liked Bromma, “a consolidation of air traffic to Arlanda is a natural development”.

Bromma Airport will lose its biggest air traffic operator from the turn of the year. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT

The city of Stockholm wants to close Bromma airport as soon as possible to make way for housing and infrastructure, but Swedavia has a contract to operate the airport until 2038.

Daniella Waldfogel, CEO of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the announcement and said it meant that the closure of Bromma should be “moved forward”.

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