Four terrorism suspects remain in custody in Sweden

Sep 12, 2011, 13:41 GMT

Stockholm - Four men arrested on suspicion of terrorism at the weekend in western Sweden remained Monday in police custody for questioning.

Police said the suspects were aged 23 to 26 and from Gothenburg, the country's second-largest city, where the arrests were made, but declined to give further details.

There were no grounds, at present, to raise the terrorism alert level or step up security in Gothenburg, police said.

Prosecutor Agnetha Hilding-Qvarnstrom must latest Tuesday decide whether to ask a court to remand the four in custody for further questioning.

Attorneys for two of the men said their clients denied the suspicions, Swedish media reported.

In connection with the arrests, police on Saturday evacuated an exhibition hall where several hundred people had gathered for the opening party of an international art biennial.

It was speculated that a Swedish artist, Lars Vilks, who generated controversy and outrage with his 2007 depiction of the Muslim prophet Mohammed as a dog, was a possible target.

Vilks, who is under police protection, wrote in a recent blog entry that he had planned to visit the exhibition. He was however in Stockholm at the weekend to appear in a programme on the 9/11 attacks in the United States.