Sweden: Police arrest two in Syriac murder case in Södertälje

SÖDERTALJE, Sweden – Swedish police have arrested two men in connection with the murder of a Syriac man on February 22 in the town of Södertälje, Sweden. The two men, who are in their 20s and 30s, have been arrested on suspicion of murder.

The Syriac man was murdered on February 22 in the town of Södertälje, Sweden. The man was hit by multiple bullets around 5 p.m. after a barrage was fired at his car in the pre-dominantly Syriac neighborhood of Ronna. The man was taken to hospital with serious injuries. He died that same evening.

The Swedish police launched an investigation into the murder and later found a burned car, outside the city in Tveta, and linked it to the murder. The two detainees were arrested at the same place where the getaway car was set on fire. The car in which the Syriac man was murdered was the property of a local politician who resigned from all her political positions later in the week.

Swedish media report that the murdered man had links to organized crime. In recent years, several Syriacs have been killed in what appears to be a war between crime gangs active in Södertälje.

Sweden has a sizable Syriac population of some 150,000. It is one of the largest ethnic groups in Sweden.