Finnish Police Detain Five People on Suspected Terrorism

(Bloomberg) -- Finnish police arrested five men identified as right-wing extremists on suspicion of preparing a terror attack. 

The men detained on Tuesday were planning to use explosives for terrorism, Toni Sjoblom, detective superintendent from Southwestern Finland Police Department told reporters on Friday, without disclosing who the potential targets were. The case is “exceptional and rare” in the Nordic country, he said.

All suspects live in the Kankaanpaa region of Satakunta, about 270 kilometers (168 miles) from the capital. There is no acute danger to the public, the police said.

The case does not lead to changes in the level of the terrorist threat in Finland from two on a four-point scale, according to Eero Pietila, Senior Analyst at the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service. The level means the threat of terrorism is expected to remain elevated in Finland over the next two years, the agency said earlier this year. 

Individuals and small groups harboring far-right or radical Islamist ideologies pose the main terror threat, with about 390 people designated as counter-terrorism targets.

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