Sweden dishes out international arrest warrant to catch suspect in Gothenburg blast case

Swedish prosecutors have issued an international arrest warrant for a tenant of the apartment building where a major blast occurred in Gothenburg, the country’s second-largest city, which caused multiple injuries.

On Tuesday, the Public Prosecutor’s Office released a statement saying that the accused perpetrator “was wanted on suspicion of public destruction, felony, and attempted murder.”

“The international alert concerns both surrender under a European Arrest Warrant and extradition from the rest of the world,” the notice said.

Over a dozen people were injured as a result of the explosion which occurred in the early hours of September 28, in central Gothenburg’s Annedal district. The blast ignited a serious blaze that damaged at least 140 apartments.

The 50-year-old male suspect has not been named by the authorities, but Swedish media have reported that he was born in Poland. An unnamed neighbor said that the alleged culprit owned a “lot of chemicals, either in the apartment or in the basement, given the smell.”

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Four of the injured remain in serious condition, while the youngest person treated was a 10-year-old child. The explosion prompted a mass evacuation effort of over 100 residents. Some dwellers even used tied sheets to escape from windows.

Emergency services soon eliminated the possibility that a gas leak was behind the blast. Police spokesperson Thomas Fuxborg confirmed that there was no pipeline in the vicinity, prompting investigators to turn to focus their efforts on the theory that an explosive device was used.

Police could not immediately collect evidence from the site to confirm that foul play was behind the blast, however, because of the inferno that raged after, requiring firefighters from seven nearby stations to spend hours quelling the flames.

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