Sweden requests extradition of teen who attacked Israeli embassies

The 17-year-old allegedly shot at the embassy in Copenhagen and detonated grenades near the one in Stockholm.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Sweden requested from Denmark Wednesday the extradition of a teen who allegedly attacked the Israeli embassies in both the Swedish and Danish capitals four months ago.

The 17-year-old is suspected of having fired at the embassy in Stockholm on the evening of October 1st, hitting the building.

The very next day, in the early morning hours, together with a 20-year-old accomplice, he allegedly threw two hand grenades “in the immediate proximity” of the embassy in Copenhagen, the police stated, causing some damage to a nearby building.

No one was hurt in either incident, but Denmark’s intelligence agency told AFP that it was in contact with the embassy “and are constantly assessing the scale of the security measures already implemented in relation to a number of Jewish locations.”

The pair were arrested while trying to escape on a train at the capital’s main train station and have been held in detention in Copenhagen on terrorism and weapons charges ever since.

They have pled not guilty and are awaiting trial.

Swedish intelligence believes that the perpetrators’ actions may be connected to Iran, which the Mossad thinks is behind a series of terrorist attacks carried out by criminal gangs targeting Israeli embassies throughout Europe since Hamas sparked war with Israel by murdering 1,200 people in an invasion on October 7th, 2023.

The Stockholm embassy has been a particular target.

A grenade was also thrown at the compound in January 2024, another grenade was found on the premises the next month, and guns were fired nearby in May, leading the authorities to reinforce security both around Israeli and Jewish community institutions.

In the May case, the alleged perpetrator was only 14 but he belonged to an organized crime gang allegedly backed by the Islamic Republic, according to the Mossad.

This is not the first time the 17-year-old has been involved in criminal activity, according to the authorities.

He is also a suspect in a murder case in Hallsthammar, Sweden, in September, where a 25-year-old man was shot to death.

The Swedish request for extradition covered this case as well as the serious weapons offenses connected to the embassy attacks.

The decision of the court was to extradite the young man to Sweden once his trial came to a close in Denmark.