Two individuals charged with gross espionage

Published 11 November 2022

Two individuals have been charged with gross espionage at the Stockholm City Court. According to the charges, they have unlawfully acquired secret information and handed it to a foreign power.

The Suspects were arrested in September and November 2021 respectively, and have been detained in custody since. One of the suspects is also, in addition to gross espionage, suspected of gross unauthorised handling of secret information.

One of the two charged individuals was employed by the Swedish Security Service between 2014 and 2015. Previously he worked at the Swedish Armed Forces. It is during the course of these employments he is suspected of having acquired the information. The Aim was to benefit a foreign power, in this case Russia.

– The Swedish Security Service considers the incident to be very serious. This is something that all security services are very aware can happen, even if we do everything in our power to prevent it. Security and intelligence services are a prioritised target, and hostile states devote extensive resources to gain information about our activities,” says Anders Kassman, Head of Department at the Swedish Security Service.

A National Security Unit prosecutor initiated an investigation into this individual in 2017, following suspicious raised by the Swedish Security Service. The fact it was the Swedish Security Service that raised the suspicions has given the Service better possibilities to take measures in regards to our own security work. Together with the Swedish Armed Forces and the National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA), the Swedish Security Service has worked intensely to ensure that the investigation would result in prosecution.

A number of countries are currently involved in espionage and other security-threatening activities in and against Sweden. Every day, Sweden is the target of attacks, espionage and security-threatening activities from other countries, which aim to steal information and strengthen their own state. Russia is one of these countries, and it has a high capability to gather intelligence, both from human sources and through technological means.

Published

 11 November 2022

Share this article

Placeholderlogotyp

Swedish Security Service

The Security Service prevents and detects offences against national security, fights terrorism and protects the central Government.

Social Media

The Security Service is currently active on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Help the Security Service

Have you seen or heard anything that could help the Security Service detect, prevent or investigate crimes against national security?

Help us

Telephone: 010-568 70 00

About cookies on the site

This website only uses the cookies necessary for the website to work. By clicking on "I understand" a cookie is also set to continue to keep the message closed.