Swedish Police Nab Lindh Murder Suspect

516 0 124
Swedish police were rushing to conduct DNA testing on a man arrested overnight as the top suspect in the killing of foreign minister Anna Lindh, amid media reports he had close links to neo-Nazi organizations. Police hope that the genetic testing will link the man to the crime scene. The assailant left traces of his own blood, a knife, a baseball cap and a sweatshirt behind after he fled the NK department store where he fatally stabbed Lindh on September 10. "The man for whom an arrest warrant had been issued has been caught," Stockholm police spokeswoman Stina Wessling told AFP. "We are satisfied." The man "will undergo a physical examination for DNA," Stockholm serious crime division chief Leif Jennekvist told a news conference called just two hours after the arrest. Swedish police can only hold a suspect for three days before a fresh detention order has to be issued on the basis of evidence. Preliminary DNA testing can take up to 24 hours. DNA testing conducted on elements from the crime scene has already been run through the Swedish police's databanks but turned up no matches. Police did not reveal the name of the suspect, who was apprehended at 9:07 pm (1907 GMT) in a pub-restaurant next to the Raasunda stadium in Stockholm's Solna suburb, watching a football match on a giant screen. "It is a breakthrough that the person who is suspected of the murder of Anna Lindh is at the Kronoberg jail" at police headquarters in Stockholm, Jennekvist said. The suspect was unarmed and offered no resistance when he was arrested by plainclothes agents, Jennekvist said. He described the man as a Swede and the arrest as "undramatic". The man did not attempt to hide his identity. Asked by AFP which name the suspect gave police upon arrest, spokeswoman Stina Wessling said: "The same name we had." One news website showed pictures of the suspect being escorted to a police car by two officers, with his face hidden. **PHOTO CAPTION*** This is a photo from a surveillance video from the NK department store in central Stockholm, Sweden Wednesday Sept. 10 2003. The picture shows an unidentified man, suspected for the assassination of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh. (AP photo/Pressens Bild/Police)

Related Articles