Man arrested over Tensta bomb

Stockholm police have removed what appeared to be a bomb from around the waist of a man in the suburb of Tensta. He said he had been kidnapped for three days.

• Another man remanded for Tensta bomb (30 Jun 06)
• Tensta bomb 'not remote controlled' (29 Jun 06)
• Stockholm belt bomb was live - police (26 Jun 06)

At around 5pm police bomb technicians managed to remove the belt and the suspected explosive device after having X-rayed the man. The X-rays revealed that they would be able to unlock the belt.

The man was taken to hospital and will be interviewed by police when doctors finish examining him.

The bomb was moved into a specially-built vehicle which then transferred it slowly to a safe area for examination.

During the evening people were gradually being allowed to return to their homes.

What exactly led to the situation was still unclear on Sunday evening and police were unwilling to reveal information, fearing that it could compromise the investigation.

At around 9.30am on Sunday the man, a Norwegian who has been living in Sweden for many years, rang a doorbell on Krällingegränd - the street where he said he had been held in an apartment for three days - and asked the family to call the police.

The family saw that he had something around his midriff and that he had a burn on his arm.

"When we heard him say to the police that he had a bomb around his waist we became afraid," said Anmol Pal, the mother of the family.

She took the telephone from the man and asked him to leave the apartment.

The man, who police said was born in 1977, does not live in the area. He was not considered to be intoxicated or to have psychiatric problems.

He said he had escaped from an apartment 25 metres from the scene. He said he had been held prisoner for three days and threatened by several men.

At around 7pm on Sunday police arrested a man in Tensta on suspicion of kidnapping. Another attacker is being hunted by officers in the area.

Some 16 police units joined the operation and the E18 motorway passing the area was closed off in both directions for around five hours.

Police established a protection zone and the other emergency services were called to the scene. Over a hundred people were evacuated from residential buildings nearby.

Jasser Mohammed Ali was one of several people who called the police.

"He was behaving strangely, sitting here outside crying," said Ali.

The man had something around his waist and something in his hand," Ali told TT.

Jasser Mohammed Ali was working in a shop in Tensta and talked to the man.

"He told us to go into the shop, so we did. When police arrived they told us that we should stay in the shop and keep the door closed," he said.

Ali said that he could see the man from inside the shop:

"He was sitting down drinking something and the police were speaking to him. I've never seen anything like it in Sweden."