Spy suspect detained in Sweden identified as senior diplomat: reports

A suspected spy arrested in Sweden is a senior diplomat with multiple international postings, public broadcaster SVT reported Tuesday.

The Swedish diplomat is suspected of spying in Stockholm from May 1 to 11 and was arrested late Sunday, SVT said, without specifying its source.

The Swedish Security Service (Sapo) announced the arrest in the capital on Monday but gave no details of the suspect’s identity.

Sapo spokesman Johan Wikstrom told AFP it had opened an “espionage” case.

SVT said Sapo was investigating whether the case was connected to a scandal that hit Swedish national security advisor Tobias Thyberg.

He resigned within hours of his appointment last Thursday after “sensitive” photos of him from dating app Grindr were sent anonymously to the media and the government.

Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said last week the government was investigating who sent them.

“It’s important to know who has something to gain from this,” he told the newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

SVT said the diplomat under arrest was not Thyberg, who served as Sweden’s ambassador to Ukraine and Afghanistan among other positions over a 24-year career.

Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer told SVT on Tuesday that Sapo’s investigation would “run its course.”

“The government is being kept abreast of developments and is in close contact with the relevant authorities,” he said.

A video clip published by SVT showed what it said was the diplomat’s apartment door forcibly opened by police.

Sweden has in recent years seen several high-profile spying cases.

In January 2023, a former Swedish intelligence officer was handed a life sentence for spying for Russia.

In September that year, a Russian-Swedish national went on trial, accused of passing Western technology to Russia’s military. A court found he had exported the material but ruled his actions did not amount to intelligence-gathering.

In February 2024, the Swedish Agency for Support for Faith Communities cut funding to the Russian Orthodox Church in Sweden, after Sapo warned that it believed the church was being used for intelligence activities.

In its annual assessment, published in March, Sapo spotlighted Russia, China and Iran as the primary actors directing intelligence activities targeting the Nordic country.

Contacted by AFP on Tuesday, the foreign ministry refused to answer questions about the latest case and referred the media to the justice ministry.

Strommer did not immediately reply to AFP.