logo
Swedish diplomat found dead after being arrested on suspicion of spying

Swedish diplomat found dead after being arrested on suspicion of spying

Independent16-05-2025
A veteran Swedish diplomat recently arrested on suspicion of espionage has died days after being released from police custody, his lawyer has revealed.
Sweden 's Sapo security service detained the man, who has not been named, on Sunday and kept him for questioning until Wednesday. He was released the same day, subject to investigation the country's prosecution service has said.
Police told Swedish outlet Svenska Dagbladet they had now opened an investigation into his death, but 'there is no suspicion a crime has been committed'.
'I heard the tragic news this morning and my thoughts go to his family,' his lawyer, Anton Strand, told Reuters. The diplomat had denied any wrongdoing and had made a complaint against the police over the handling of the case, Mr Strand said. He also sought medical help after his release from custody.
Mr Strand added that 'the relatives also want me to closely follow the police report about assault and misconduct that their relative has already filed'.
Public broadcaster SVT has reported that the diplomat had served at several Swedish embassies and that Sapo was investigating a potential connection to the resignation of the government's national security adviser, Tobias Thyberg, last week.
Mr Thyberg left his role after just a day, following sensitive images of him from a dating app being leaked to the government and media.
Sweden's foreign ministry confirmed that one of its employees had died but declined to comment further.
'We can regrettably confirm that an employee of the foreign service has passed away,' the ministry said in a statement. 'Out of concern for the relatives we will refrain from giving further detail.'
A spokesperson for the Swedish security services said they could not name the person in question.
'I cannot go into any detail about the investigation,' the spokesperson added. 'There has been a gag order regarding the interrogations that have happened.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Mike Johnson says Ghislaine Maxwell coming clean on Epstein case would be ‘a great service to the country'
Mike Johnson says Ghislaine Maxwell coming clean on Epstein case would be ‘a great service to the country'

The Independent

timean hour ago

  • The Independent

Mike Johnson says Ghislaine Maxwell coming clean on Epstein case would be ‘a great service to the country'

Speaker Mike Johnson called on Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, to come clean and told Americans that he "hoped" she could be trusted as he faces the growing uproar around the White House's handling of the investigation. Johnson appeared Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, where moderator Kristen Welker asked him point-blank if the convicted sex-trafficker girlfriend of Epstein could be trusted to accurately testify about the crimes she and Epstein committed. Epstein was awaiting prosecution for sex trafficking underage girls after a previous conviction on similar charges when he died in federal custody. Maxwell has been thrust back into the spotlight as the MAGA base has grown frustrated with President Donald Trump and his administration's shutting down of the so-called Epstein files release. Last week, a top Department of Justice official met with Maxwell about the case. "Well, I mean, look; it's a good question. I hope so," Johnson told Welker in response. "I hope that she would want to come clean." "I hope she's telling the truth. She is convicted, she's serving a 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking. Her character is in some if she wants to come clean now, that would be a great service to the country. We want to know every bit of information that she has." The House Oversight Committee voted this week to issue a subpoena for Maxwell after the Justice Department announced its own plans to speak with her. Agency officials did so for nine hours between Thursday and Friday, after making a statement seeming to confirm that her testimony hadn't been aggressively sought before. Some have called Maxwell to testify and suggested she should be given a pardon for sharing what she knows about the Epstein case. She was convicted of sexual abuse against minors and sex trafficking for helping Epstein carry out crimes. Johnson touted the Oversight subpoena favorably Sunday, casting it as evidence that GOP leadership supported efforts aimed at transparency. The Trump administration turned speculation about Epstein's death and the so-called 'Client List' of his co-conspirators into a raging wildfire in early July. The Justice Department and FBI published a joint memo explaining that future releases from the files would not take place, and that the list of Epstein's accomplices was not found. Epstein was rumored to have cultivated personal relationships with many powerful men and institutions. Critics of the president have alleged that a cover-up is in the works regarding the Epstein files. Democrats have hammered the president for his reversal, and a pair of scoops from the Wall Street Journal have reported on the president's connections to Epstein, to Trump's fury. The newspaper reported the contents of a message allegedly penned by Trump to Epstein as part of a 50th birthday celebration in 2003, including allusions to a shared 'secret' between them. Trump firmly denied authoring the note, and sued the Journal and its reporters in response. A second article from the Journal days later reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi informed Trump in May that he was mentioned in the Epstein investigation multiple times, thought it was not clear in what context. The White House called that story 'fake' and has repeatedly insinuated that Democrats including Joe Biden tampered with evidence while Trump was out of office. Being mentioned in the files does not mean wrongdoing, and hundreds of names are reportedly included. The lead GOP co-sponsor behind a House resolution that would force the Justice Department to release the entirety of its collected evidence related to Epstein said Sunday that his push was to help the convicted pedophile's victims and would only grow stronger in the coming weeks. Earlier on the same network, Rep. Thomas Massie appeared alongside the resolution's lead Democratic co-sponsor, Rep. Ro Khanna, as the two promoted a resolution that would force Attorney General Pam Bondi to release 'all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials' related to the Epstein and Maxwell investigations. Massie told Welker that 'the release of the Epstein files is emblematic of what Trump ran for' and explained that the president's MAGA base expected results. 'There seems to be a class of people beyond the law, beyond the judicial all thought that when Trump was elected, he would be the bull in the china shop and break that all up,' said Massie. Massie went on to say that the Trump administration had lost his trust on the issue after publicly supporting transparency around the investigation, then doing an abrupt about-face. The administration is now calling on its supporters to move on from the issue and focus on hashing out issues with the 2016 'Russiagate' investigation instead of Epstein. Top administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, also spent months calling for the very releases the Justice Department says it won't authorize. 'People who were allegedly working on this weren't sincere in their efforts,' Massie said. 'Somebody should ask Speaker Mike Johnson, why did he recess Congress early so that he didn't have to deal with the Epstein issue?' 'Politics is the art of the doable. There's enough public pressure right now that we can get 218 votes and force this to a vote on the floor,' said Massie. He also firmly rejected a DOJ memo explaining the administration's position against further releases of information from the Epstein files, despite the very public promises of Bondi and others to do the opposite. In the memo, agency officials said that explicit imagery involving children was 'intertwined' throughout the files collected by the Justice Department. Some have said the files should not be released to protect sex-abuse victims of both Maxwell and Epstein. 'That's a straw man [argument],' Massie responded on Sunday, after Welker read part of the memo. 'Ro [Khanna] and I carefully crafted this legislation so that the victims' names would be redacted, and that no child pornography will be released.'

Woman found dead after man arrested over ‘armed robbery at Asda' as cops launch murder probe & fear 2 more victims
Woman found dead after man arrested over ‘armed robbery at Asda' as cops launch murder probe & fear 2 more victims

The Sun

timean hour ago

  • The Sun

Woman found dead after man arrested over ‘armed robbery at Asda' as cops launch murder probe & fear 2 more victims

A MURDER investigation has been launched after police arrested an armed robber. A man was arrested yesterday evening after cops received reports of an armed robbery at Asda in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. 4 4 After taking the robber into custody he disclosed to officers that a woman he believed was dead was inside a property on Norfolk Street, Batley. Cops raced to the address to discover the body of a woman, formal identification is yet to take place. The man, who was arrested shortly before in connection with the robbery, was then arrested on suspicion of murder. Forensic specialists were seen at the address as they carried out their investigations. Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector, Dan Bates of the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, said: 'This is clearly a very serious incident, where a young woman has lost her life. 'There is a heightened police presence in Dewsbury today as we work to establish the full circumstances surrounding this incident. "Our immediate priority is to identify and locate the two people and establish whether or not they have come to any harm. 'A murder investigation is also underway and we do not believe there is any wider risk to the public at this time. 'We recognise this inquiry will cause concern in the community; we are working closely with our colleagues in the local neighbourhood policing team, who have stepped up patrols in the town centre. 'I would like to appeal to anyone who may have information that would assist to come forward and speak to us. We are also looking for any CCTV, doorbell and dash cam footage people might have to help our investigation.' 4 4

Report: Bryan Kohberger files reveal missed clues of his massacre
Report: Bryan Kohberger files reveal missed clues of his massacre

Daily Mail​

time2 hours ago

  • Daily Mail​

Report: Bryan Kohberger files reveal missed clues of his massacre

Convicted killer Bryan Kohberger was spotted with fingernail-type scratches across his face and wounds on his knuckles around the time that he murdered four Idaho students in a brutal attack - but brushed the injuries off as a car accident. A teaching assistant and fellow criminology student at Washington State University told investigators he had noticed the injuries on the 30-year-old killer's face and hands on two separate occasions around October and November 2022, new police records show. One of the injuries was a large scratch on Kohberger's face which the student, whose name was redacted, described as looking like fingernail scratches, the records show. When he asked Kohberger what had happened to him, he claimed he had been in a car accident. It was around that time that Kohberger murdered Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin , both 20. In the early hours of November 13, 2022, the criminology PhD student broke into the victims' home at 1122 King Road, Moscow, and stabbed the four victims to death, many of them while they slept. It is not clear if Kohberger sustained his injuries while carrying out his stabbing rampage but records reveal Kernodle fought for her life against her attacker. Kohberger refused to reveal any details about the murders or his motive when he was forced to face the victims' families at his sentencing Wednesday. But, following his sentencing, Moscow Police has unsealed hundreds of records around the case, including eerie encounters the students had at 1122 King Road before they were murdered. In the police interview with the unidentified WSU student - who shared an office with the killer - he recalled Kohberger becoming chattier after the murders. On more than one occasion, Kohberger spoke to him about wanting a girlfriend. From what the student saw, the killer had used his authority as a TA to 'inappropriately interact with female students' at WSU. The student also revealed Kohberger liked to discuss his area of study 'which was criminal decision making and burglary type crimes' - a chilling interest that he then acted out himself. While the student considered Kohberger intelligent and a friend, he also described him as selfish and dishonest. Here are some of the other key revelations from the trove of documents: Keeping track of police On the night he decided to kill, Kohberger tried to keep an ear to the ground about the movements of local law enforcement. Investigators found he had searched Google for ' Pullman police and fire dispatch live audio feed' at 12.26am on November 13, 2022. Just three hours later, he carried out his attack. That same day, there had been a hit-and-run close to Kohberger's WSU housing in Pullman, which meant there was a heavy police presence near his home earlier that day. Kohberger had also screenshotted the jail roster of the inmate arrested over that crash. Kohberger's police interview after arrest Kohberger was arrested at his parents' home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, in the early hours of December 30, 2022. He was taken to Pennsylvania State Police Barracks at Stroudsburg to be interviewed by officers from the Moscow police department, Idaho State Police and the FBI. After Kohberger was read his Miranda rights and confirmed he understood, he told the officers he was concerned about his parents and his dog following the raid on their home. They then made small talk about sports and Kohberger's studies at WSU. Kohberger went into detail about his education at DeSales University, Northampton Community College and now WSU and regaled the officers with how he became interested in criminal justice and considered becoming a police officer. He told them he wanted to become a professor 'because he loved being in college' and stated that 'knowledge was far more important to him than money'. When asked if he would be a TA again the following semester, Kohberger said he would. In reality, Kohberger had already been fired as a TA. After engaging freely in small talk, things took a turn when the murders were brought up - with Kohberger then shutting the interview down. Kohberger had asked what he was doing there. He was told it was 'because of what occurred in Moscow'. When asked if he knew what had happened, he replied: 'Of course.' One of the detectives then asked if he wanted to talk about. 'Well, I think I would need a lawyer,' Kohberger replied, ending the interview. Stalking at 1122 King Road The records reveal the victims had seen a man lurking in the trees outside their home and noticed a string of bizarre incidents at 1122 King Road in the weeks before the murders. Around one month earlier, Goncalves had told multiple people including surviving roommates Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke and her ex-boyfriend Jack DuCoeur that she had seen a man watching her in the trees around the home when she took her pet dog Murphy outside. Friends also recalled multiple occasions when, during parties at the home, Goncalves' dog Murphy would run barking into the tree line and wouldn't return when he was called. This was out of character for the dog, they said. On November 4, 2022 - just nine days before the murders - the roommates had come home to find the door to their three-story house open. Funke said that they had grabbed golf clubs and gone room to room, thinking there was an intruder. Goncalves had also mentioned someone following her around two or three weeks before her murder. Around that same time, a female student living on Queen Road - close to the King Road home - said a man tried to break into her home but the door was locked. Evidence indicates Kohberger was watching the home in the lead-up to the murders. From July 2022 through to November 13, 2022, Kohberger's phone placed him in the vicinity of the King Road home at least 23 times, mostly at night. Moscow Police Corporal Brett Payne said Wednesday Kohberger 'targeted' 1122 King Road, but authorities still don't know why. Photos of students on killer's cell phone A WSU student told police Kohberger appeared to have kept photos from her Instagram on his cell phone. A recent Dateline episode revealed that Kohberger had several photos of women on his cellphone, many of them students at WSU or the University of Idaho and some of them in swimwear. After the show aired, a woman told police she recognized herself and one of her friends in the photos. She believed they had been taken off her Instagram account which had been public back in 2022. The woman had been in a class at WSU where Kohberger was the TA and recalled him being socially awkward. Creepy Tinder and club encounters with women The records reveal that, following his arrest, several women came forward to police about creepy interactions they had with Kohberger. One unidentified woman claimed to have matched with Kohberger on Tinder in September or October 2022 - just weeks before the murders. Kohberger told her he was a criminology student at WSU and she confided that one of her friends had been murdered a few years earlier. They went on to talk about their favorite horror movies, she said. Kohberger then allegedly asked the woman a chilling question: what did she think would be the worst way to die? She told police that when she told him by knife, he responded with an eerie comment to the effect of, 'like a Ka-Bar?' Around one month later, Kohberger is believed to have used a Ka-Bar knife to slaughter his victims. Surviving roommates' harrowing accounts Court documents previously revealed Mortensen was woken by noises in the home and came face-to-face with the killer as he walked past her bedroom door and left through the back sliding door on the second floor. The documents reveal for the first time that Funke - whose bedroom was on the first floor - was also woken up by the noises inside the home that night. In her police interview, she told officers she went to bed around 2.30am but was woken to a sound she described as a firecracker and a flash. She also heard what sounded like the beer pong table moving and cups falling in the living room above as well as Murphy barking. Funke told investigators she initially thought it could be a prank from some of Chapin's frat brothers. Around 4am, multiple neighbors said they heard a dog - believed to be Goncalves' pet Murphy - outside and barking for about 45 minutes. Officers found Murphy on the third floor of the home inside Goncalves' bedroom, with the door open. Murder kit purchases Several tips came into police about individuals shopping for items matching the description of what the killer wore the night of the murders. Mortensen saw Kohberger masked and dressed head-to-toe in black as he exited the home. During a police canvass of local businesses on November 14, 2022, a worker at Walmart told officers that two to three weeks earlier a man had come in looking for a black ski mask that would cover his face The man, a white college-aged male, left when the worker said they only had camo masks. It is not clear if the man was Kohberger. At that time, Mortensen's eyewitness account had not been made public. Following his arrest, purchase records show Kohberger did buy a beanie from Walmart on November 7, 2022 - six days before the murders. The clothing Kohberger wore when committing the murders has never been found. Harrowing details of victims' injuries H arrowing new details were revealed about the injuries Kohberger inflicted on his victims by the accounts of some of the f irst officers on the scene. Kernodle's body was on the floor of her bedroom covered in blood. She had suffered more than 50 stab wounds - including two to the heart and multiple defensive wounds, including a deep gash between her finger and thumb. 'It was obvious an intense struggle had occurred,' the officer wrote. 'There was blood smeared on various items in the room and all over the floor.' Chapin was partially covered with a blanket in her bed, with his jugular severed, the police files said. On the floor above, officers found the bodies of Mogen and Goncalves. As well as more than 20 stab wounds, Goncalves' face was so badly damaged she was 'unrecognizable.' Mogen had wounds to her forearm, hands and a huge gash from her right eye to her nose. Both were covered in blood, which had covered the pink blanket they were sharing. Jailhouse incidents Since his arrest, Kohberger's behavior inside prison has also raised eyebrows with some fellow inmates. One inmate told investigators Kohberger would spend hours on video calls with his mom MaryAnn. The inmate reported one incident when, during one of these calls, he had said 'you suck' at a sports player he was watching on TV. The remark rattled Kohberger, causing him to respond aggressively, thinking the inmate was speaking about him or his mother, the records show. He 'immediately got up and put his face to the bars' and asked if he was talking about him or his mom, the inmate told investigators. Other than that incident, Kohberger came across as highly intelligent and polite behind bars, the inmate said. But he also displayed unusual habits such as washing his hands 'dozens of times a day,' spending '45 minutes to an hour in the shower' and staying awake almost all night, only napping during the day. Sightings at possible dump sites The murder weapon has never been found. Investigators learned that, later on November 13, 2022, Kohberger drove to the areas of the Clearwater River and the Snake River in the Lewis and Clarkston Valley - around 30 miles south of Moscow and Pullman - stopping at various businesses in the area. It is unclear what Kohberger did during that time or if he disposed of critical evidence of the murders. The records reveal that several tipsters reported sightings of a man believed to be Kohberger and his vehicle around the area at that time - and investigators carried out searches looking for evidence. One woman told police she had seen a man walking in the grassy area between the river and the highway by Red Wolf Bridge and 'thought this was strange as there was nothing for anyone to be doing there.' She said the man looked like Kohberger, was wearing 'nice clothes' and appeared to avoid her gaze.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store