‘We’ve had riots and crime’: anger at Muslims in suburb where suspect was caught
‘Donald Trump was right all along,” growled Stan, a resident of the working-class suburb of Märsta, where the 39-year-old Stockholm truck attack suspect was arrested. He was referring to the president’s claim in February that Sweden had suffered a terrorist attack, in a speech about terrorism in Europe.
“What he said at the time was nothing special, but then two days later there was a riot in northern Stockholm,” said Stan, 60. “So he turned out to be right.”
Märsta, an hour’s drive north, is a far cry from bustling Stockholm, with just a few elderly men sitting by Willys supermarket drinking coffee from polystyrene cups. Many of the buildings are anonymous high- rises that would not look out of place on a London estate.
Two children are cuddled up inside a slide at a playground near the Islamic Centre, their parents nowhere to be seen. The area is also at the centre of Sweden’s struggle to integrate a record number of migrants – a new arrival’s first port of call is often Märsta’s immigration centre.
“This is what I see outside my house,” Stan added, taking out his phone and pointing to a grainy image of a large group of Muslims praying on mats outdoors.
“This area has completely changed. I used to live here in the Seventies, and now it’s completely changed.
“Now Märsta has a serious problem with Islamic extremists, very serious,” he continued. “And also with crime. There are problems every day, with crime, narcotics, theft.”
Asked whether he believed the two issues were linked, he nodded. “Of course they are. Now in Sweden there is no integration, and there is no point in even speaking to the Swedish government about it because they act like it does not happen.”
Police declined to name the lorry suspect yesterday. But he has been identified as a 39-year-old migrant labourer from Uzbekistan who was known to security services in Sweden. Intelligence agencies are liaising to build up a picture of his route from the Uzbek capital Samarkand, where he was working in 2012, to the outskirts of the capital.
The pattern of Friday’s onslaught – driving a lorry into a crowd – echoes terrorist assaults in Nice and Berlin in the past year, in attacks inspired by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), which has urged followers to use vehicles as weapons.
Märsta’s large Muslim community, which runs a mosque 200 yards from the city centre, said it was horrified by the attack, which left four people dead.
“Of course I heard about what happened,” said Mr Osman, the imam as he gingerly opened the door. “I condemn it, I absolutely condemn it.”
He was already concerned about the potential backlash. “I’m worried to go outside, and we’ve been told probably it’s best not to go outside for at least a few days wearing Islamic dress, possibly a week,” he said.
“I have been the victim of racism before. And when something like this happens, the Islamophobia will get worse, always does.”
The attack suspect was arrested in the northern suburb of Märsta, near Stockholm’s airport, after locals reported him to police for acting “strangely”. He had fled the scene of the atrocity in the city centre, boarding a train towards the airport.
He was seen on the train and followed by a woman, who recognised him from the CCTV images and alerted police. Later, a motorist spotted him at a garage chase and raised the alarm.
Police arrested the suspect after following a trail of his blood.
On Friday night officers raided an address in Hjulsta, a Stockholm suburb. A neighbour said the suspect did not live there but that a female friend, also an Uzbek, had let him use the home to receive post.
Security services will investigate all links to the man in custody.
Mohamed Belkaid, who was killed in a police raid in Brussels linked to the November 2015 Paris attacks, also lived in Märsta, according to a Swedish news website.
He was connected to a “violent Islamic extremist network” in Sweden, according to SVT, and was also a close associate of Abu Omar, another extremist whose whereabouts are unknown.
‘Of course the Islamic extremists are linked with crime. But our government acts like it doesn’t happen’