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In Swedish Farmhouse, A Neo-Nazi Weapons Stockpile -- And Plan To Attack Schools

In Swedish Farmhouse, A Neo-Nazi Weapons Stockpile -- And Plan To Attack Schools

When Swedish police arrested a 25-year-old man at a farmhouse outside of Gothenburg last November, the only official explanation was that he was arrested for “gross preparation for general destruction.” Now the details of what they found inside the house have been released, and it’s chilling: the man, who was active in the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), had stockpiled homemade bombs, semi-automatic weapons and parts manufactured with a 3D printer, as well as a huge cache of ammunition—all while engaging in online discussions about how to target schools for mass shootings.

The farmhouse arsenal was powerfully reminiscent of the case of Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik, who made similar preparations at a rural property over several years prior to his lethal terrorist attack in July 2011 that killed 69 young people at a summer camp and eight people in downtown Oslo when he detonated a truck bomb. Terrorism experts examining the Sweden case say it’s clear evidence that the threat of white-nationalist terrorism continues to spread around the globe.

Contained within the farmhouse near the town of Falköping, as researcher Hugo Kaaman explained, was a weapons stockpile that actually dwarfed Breivik’s, suggesting the intensity of the young man—who has not been publicly identified—in his desire to replicate the white-nationalist hero’s horrific act.

There were 50 tons of ammonium-nitrate fertilizer, the main component in the truck bombs ignited by Breivik and, before him, Oklahoma City mass killer Timothy McVeigh. He had multiple guns of various makes: semiautomatic and single-shot rifles and handguns, as well as multiple ammo magazines, bullet casings, and gunpowder. He also had a number of laser scopes, a bulletproof vest, camouflage clothing, a ballistic helmet, and a 3D printer that investigators believe he manufactured gun parts with.

The man had set up a laboratory in his garage, but investigators also found that he had likely set up a pipe-bomb-making operation on his kitchen table, which had gunpowder on it. And being a devoted neo-Nazi, he also had a full library of far-right literature, as well as manuals on bomb-building and a handbook on armed struggle.

When investigators went through his online activity, they found that the man had searched for posts and discussion threads about using various kinds of bombs, as well as proposals for attacks on schools. They believe, however, that he had not yet settled on a target.

"The suspect has discussed the possibilities of carrying out attacks on a schoolyard, but there is no evidence that any specific school has been selected. It appears as if the suspect has 'got stuck' in the first planning phase," a statement from the Swedish Defense Research Agency read.

The agency also noted that the man had expressed violent fantasies in various online forums, and promoted violent neo-Nazi beliefs, reflecting his membership in the NRM.

Like a number of neo-Nazi terrorist organizations, the Nordic Resistance Movement is a product of Russia-based fascist activism—particularly the now-defunct Iron March forum, originally the brainchild of a Russian neo-Nazi who went by the nom de guerre Slavros, who created Iron March in 2009 as the rebranded online home of the fascist International Third Position forum.

Iron March subsequently gave birth to the American neo-Nazi terrorist organization Atomwaffen Division, a number of whose members have been arrested by federal authorities for various acts of terrorism, as well as the explicitly fascist Patriot Front organization. Its impact has been global, however; among the organizations that emerged from it are the U.K.-based National Action, the Australia-based Antipodean Resistance, and the New Zealand-based Action Zealandia.

NRM’s goal, according to its website, is to create an ethnically pure pan-Nordic nation that would include all Scandinavian nations, and to deport most non-ethnic Northern European residents. To do so, they say they intend to dismantle the “global Zionist elite”.

Although NRM doesn’t explicitly call for violence, its members train in martial arts and knife attacks, and they will eagerly seek out confrontations.

“The Nordic Resistance Movement is a serious threat—members have attacked refugee centers and traveled to train with other Nazi groups over the years,” Heidi Beirich of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism told Daily Kos. “If the U.S. ever designates another group as a Special Terrorist Organization, I would say NRM should be at the top of the list.”

NRM has been involved in a series of incidents in which members violently confronted minority groups and antifascists. In 2016 and 2017, members planted bombs outside a far-left cafe and a refugee center in Gothenburg, the latter of which injured an immigration officer. At a 2016 protest in Finland, an NMR member killed a man by kicking him in the chest, causing him to fall and hit his head.

The Swedish man arrested for the farmhouse arsenal also has a previous conviction for assault in February 2017 as a result of his NRM activism. At an NRM demonstration in Gothenburg, the man was handing out leaflets when a woman spat in his face. He punched her in the face, causing her to fall to the ground.

“This guy’s track record with them at least led to the police to not sell a shotgun to him,” Beirich observed, “but the prevalence of 3D printed guns among extremists is undermining that strategy. This is a reminder that bombs are quite popular among right-wing extremists as well.”

The incident also is stark evidence that the chain of terrorism fueled by white-nationalist extremism that was initiated by Breivik—who himself was following in the footsteps of killers like McVeigh—continues to mount, notably with the recent mass killing in Buffalo that was inspired by the Christchurch, New Zealand, killer in 2019, who in turn was inspired by Breivik. It also demonstrates the increasing number of arrests of neo-Nazis around the world—including the Austrian man arrested in November 2021 with an arsenal similar to the Swedish man’s—is not simply a coincidence.

“This case is another reminder that far-right extremists are capable of mass violence and if they aren’t tracked and investigated we will get more mass attacks, as we’ve just seen in Buffalo,” said Beirich. “And given the online nature of his postings, once again the web is a key to stopping this violence. As scary as this situation is, it’s sadly becoming par for the course in terms of neo-Nazis and white supremacists. At least in this case, he was arrested before something horrific happened.”

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Swedish Police Arrest Four In Terror Plot

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Swedish police arrested four people on suspicion of preparing a terror attack and evacuated an arts center in the country’s second largest city, security officials said Sunday.

The four were arrested in the west coast city of Goteborg and were suspected of plotting terrorism, security service spokeswoman Sara Kvarnstrom said. She declined to give details on the arrests and wouldn’t say whether they were linked to the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Kvarnstrom said Swedish security service SAPO saw no reason to raise its terror alert level, which has been at “elevated” since October.

“Our assessment is that there is no reason for public concern at the moment,” she told The Associated Press.

Swedish tabloid Expressen, citing an unnamed police source, said investigators suspect the men belong to a terror network with links to al-Qaida, and that they had acquired, or were trying to acquire, firearms, explosives and hand grenades. Security police declined to comment on the newspaper’s information.

Police in Goteborg said in a statement they had evacuated the Roda Sten arts center, located beneath the city’s landmark half-mile (930-meter) Alvsborg bridge, because of a threat deemed to pose “serious danger to life, health or substantial damage of property.”

Kvarnstrom declined to say if the arts center or the bridge were considered potential targets for a terror attack.

The Alvsborg bridge runs over Goteborg’s harbor to connect the mainland with the island of Hisingen. The six-lane passage is a vital link from the Norwegian capital Oslo to southern Sweden.

Goteborg police and Sweden’s Stockholm-based counterterrorism unit assisted security police with the arrests.

Henrik Wallgren, 46, says he saw a Swedish navy combat boat race back and forth on the river by the arts center just before he and others were evacuated from the center.

“We were sitting on a skateboard ramp behind the graffiti wall at Roda Sten,” when it happened, he told The Associated Press.

Roda Sten is a former heating plant that was abandoned for years before being reopened as an arts center in 2000, according to its website. About 400 people were celebrating the opening of an international biennial for contemporary art at the graffiti-covered brick building when police ordered everyone to leave, said Mia Christersdotter Norman, the head of Roda Sten.

“Around midnight I was called out by the police and they said there was a threat to the building and asked us to quietly stop the party, which we did and everyone left,” Christersdotter Norman told The Associated Press.

“Police have searched the building but they didn’t find anything,” she said, adding the arts center would reopen as usual Sunday.

She said she had no information about the arrests, and had not been aware of any threats against the arts festival or its participants before the police operation.

Klas Eriksson, a DJ, was just about to start playing at Roda Sten when police broke up the party. People were worried but there was no panic, he said.

“It was just after midnight. Police said that they had arrested four people and that the building had to be evacuated,” Eriksson told AP.

“I thought it was scary,” he said. “Your thoughts go to 9/11, because it was just after midnight. But you don’t know. It could be anything.”

In December, suicide bomber Taimour Abdulwahab blew himself up in downtown Stockholm among panicked Christmas shoppers, injuring two people and causing shock in a country that had largely been insulated from terrorism.

The 2007 drawing of the Prophet Muhammad by a Swedish cartoonist raised tensions in Sweden. In May, Lars Vilks was assaulted while giving a speech in Uppsala, and vandals unsuccessfully tried to burn down his home in southern Sweden. His cartoon was reportedly the inspiration for Abdulwahab’s attack. Vilks was not attending the art biennial in Goteborg.

In a report detailing the extent of extremist Islamist networks in Sweden, ordered months before that attack, SAPO had downplayed the risk of terror attacks in the Nordic country. Activity among radicalized Muslims in Sweden is primarily directed toward supporting militants in other countries, including Somalia, Afghanistan and Pakistan, it said.

Magnus Norell, a terrorism expert at the Swedish Defense Research Agency, declined to speculate about what was behind the arrests, but said the general threat in Sweden remains low.

“It was low in December 2010 as well — but at the same time Sweden is a part of the world and a global context,” he said.

Scandinavia has largely been focused on Islamic terrorism since Sept. 11, but in the wake of Norway’s terrorist attack by a right-wing anti-immigrant Norwegian, the European police agency said it was setting up a task force of more than 50 experts to help investigate non-Islamist threats in Scandinavian countries.

The Swedish government said it would earmark 62 million kronor ($9.5 million) to set up a national action plan against all kinds of violent extremism, focused on prevention.