'I'm pleased with what I've done': Stockholm jihadi killer says he 'achieved what he set out to do' and that terror attack was retaliation for Western military action against ISIS

  • Rakhmat Akilov admitted to driving a truck into a Stockholm shopping centre
  • The incident killed four people and injured 15 others on Friday afternoon
  • Akilov told police that he was part of ISIS and said that the order to launch Friday's atrocity came directly from the group's high command in Syria
  • He said the tragedy was in retaliation for Western military action against ISIS

The shameless Stockholm jihadi killer accused of killing four people and injuring 15 others by driving a truck into the city's largest shopping centre has boasted to police interrogators that he is 'pleased with what he has done'.

When questioned by officers, 39-year-old Uzbek fanatic Rakhmat Akilov freely admitted his crime, smirking that he had 'achieved what he set out to do', a source inside the police told the Expressen newspaper.

He also admitted to being part of ISIS and said that the order to launch Friday's atrocity came directly from the group's high command in Syria. 

Akilov was detained at around 9pm local time (1900 GMT) on Friday in a northern Stockholm suburb hours after police say he hijacked a truck and ploughed through a pedestrian shopping street in central Stockholm. 

When questioned by police, Rakhmat Akilov (pictured during his arrest) freely admitted his crime, smirking that he had 'achieved what he set out to do'

When questioned by police, Rakhmat Akilov (pictured during his arrest) freely admitted his crime, smirking that he had 'achieved what he set out to do'

Akilov was detained at around 9pm local time (1900 GMT) on Friday in a northern Stockholm suburb hours after police say he hijacked a truck and ploughed through a pedestrian shopping street in central Stockholm

Akilov was detained at around 9pm local time (1900 GMT) on Friday in a northern Stockholm suburb hours after police say he hijacked a truck and ploughed through a pedestrian shopping street in central Stockholm

Under interrogation at Kronoberg prison, the 39-year-old fanatic told police that he 'drove towards the infidels' in retaliation for Western military action against ISIS, demanding that 'the bombings in Syria must stop'.

The Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported that the killer was so keen to tell officers that he was linked to ISIS that he made the claim even as he was being wrestled to the ground in Märsta on Friday evening.

'I bombarded Sweden because you bomb my country,' he reportedly said.

Police have confirmed that Akilov had an explosive device beside him in the cab of the hijacked lorry as he mowed down pedestrians on Drottninggatan high street in central Stockholm last week.

The home-made device, which did not explode, was comprised of gas bottles, chemicals, nails and bolts designed to inflict maximum casualties, Aftonbladet reported. 

The British man killed in the Stockholm terror attack on Friday has been named as Chrispin Bevington, a father of two young boys.

The 41-year-old had been living and working in Stockholm as an executive for music streaming site Spotify. 

The others dead are a female Belgian tourist, 31, and two Swedes including an 11-year-old girl who was walking home from school. Police said all have been identified and their relatives informed.  

Candles and flowers placed at the Sergels Torg to commemorate the victims of last Friday's terror attack in Stockholm, Sweden, on Sunday

Candles and flowers placed at the Sergels Torg to commemorate the victims of last Friday's terror attack in Stockholm, Sweden, on Sunday

Hero: Orthopedic surgeon Joakim Nordahl, 54, was in his surgery when he heard the attack, picked his gloves and emergency bag and went straight out with another seven people from the reception

Hero: Orthopedic surgeon Joakim Nordahl, 54, was in his surgery when he heard the attack, picked his gloves and emergency bag and went straight out with another seven people from the reception

News of the investigation emerged as a former co-worker of Akilov contacted by Reuters said Akilov had never expressed any religious views and that the man he shared a flat with near Stockholm was said to be 'devastated' to hear Akilov may be responsible for the attack.

AKILOV TIMELINE 

10 November 2014 - Rakhmat Akilov applies for a residence permit at the Swedish Migration Board

15 June 2016 - The authorities reject the application and rule that he must be deported

13 February 2017 - Akilov vanishes and a decision is made to refer the case to police to enforce

23 February 2017 - The case is received by police

24 February 2017 - The case is registered in the police system

27 February 2017 - Officers try to locate Akilov but confirm that he has disappeared. Police authorities decide to implement the deportation when he is located 

Advertisement

Police said he had previously turned up in information gathered by Swedish security services.

'He was a marginal character,' said Sweden's national police chief Dan Eliasson. He did not figure in any of their investigations immediately prior to the attack. 

Police have also said the suspect had shown sympathies for extremist organisations, including Islamic State and that he was wanted for failing to comply with a deportation order after his application for residency was denied. 

The illegal immigrant who evaded police, should have been deported from Sweden after his application for a work permit in 2014 was denied, it emerged today.

His case was in limbo for two years, but in June 2016 the Swedish migration board made the decision to deport him.

He went underground, however, evading police and picking up work in the construction industry.

Police records reveal how Uzbek illegal immigrant Rakhmat Akilov was able to avoid deportation for months before allegedly launching the ISIS-inspired attack in central Stockholm on Friday that killed four.

Under interrogation at Kronoberg prison, the 39-year-old fanatic told police that he 'drove towards the infidels' in retaliation for Western military action against ISIS, demanding that 'the bombings in Syria must stop'
Police have confirmed that Akilov had an explosive device beside him in the cab of the hijacked lorry as he mowed down pedestrians on Drottninggatan high street in central Stockholm last week

Under interrogation at Kronoberg prison, the 39-year-old fanatic told police that he 'drove towards the infidels' in retaliation for Western military action against ISIS, demanding that 'the bombings in Syria must stop' 

It took 18 months before the authorities rejected his application for a residence permit. The suspected fanatic was slated for deportation in June 2016, but vanished and was still at large on the streets of the Swedish capital last week.

TERRORIST WAS FIRED IN JANUARY FOR 'SLEEPING ON THE JOB' 

One of the Stockholm killer's former colleagues has said that the terrorist had been sacked in January because he was 'sleeping on the job' and had since struggled to find work.

Rakhmat Akilov, 39, became unemployed and depressed and whiled away his days pointlessly, he said.

'He was fired from a project because he was sleeping on the job,' said the labourer, who works at a decontamination centre.

When the former colleague met him since by chance and asked him what he had been doing, he replied, 'I'm just smoking and sleeping,' the colleague told Aftonbladet newspaper. 

Advertisement

A police timeline shows how Akilov's case ping-ponged between different departments as the cumbersome Swedish bureaucracy ground into action.

Authorities appeared painstakingly slow to react to his disappearance – even though he was a known an ISIS sympathiser.

In 2015 he had been implicated in an investigation into an Uzbek crime ring accused of funnelling money to jihadis.

Even so, the alleged killer was deemed not to be a threat by investigators, who decided to focus on other priorities leaving him free to plan and carry out the attack.

Swedish Security Police spokesman Simon Bynert said the suspect had been involved in an asylum process in Sweden, but that the security police had not been part of it.

Akilov was Facebook friends with key figures in the radical Islamist group Hisb ut-Tahrir, which supports the establishment of a Shaira state and has close ties to Uzbekistan.

He also liked a Buddhist and a Mormon webpage on Facebook and appeared to be interested in Russian politics, supporting former Russian president Dmitri Medvedev and opposition politician Alexei Navalny, a prominent critic of corruption and Vladimir Putin.

Tragic: Chris Bevington was killed in the attack on Friday
Chris Bevington was one of four killed in the attack

Tragic: Chris Bevington was killed in the attack on Friday. The 41-year-old had been living and working in Stockholm for 10 years

His Facebook page shows he was following a group called 'Friends of Libya and Syria', dedicated to exposing 'terrorism of the imperialistic financial capitals' of the United States, Britain and Arab 'dictatorships'.

The page features two videos, one on the double standards on what constitutes terror and how Muslims are victimised, and the other about a man with his family in the Iraqi city of Mosul calling others to join radical group Islamic State.

TERROR SUSPECT 'TRAINED IN HANDLING BOMBS'

A former colleague interviewed the suspect, a 39-year-old Uzbek, for a construction job. 

He told Expressen: 'By the end of the job interview he showed me a certificate that he had knowledge of explosives.'

The alleged terrorist was described as 'quiet and calm', and trained to handle asbestos.

'He never said anything extreme and the news of his arrest comes as a complete surprise,' the construction worker, who did not want to be named, said.

Advertisement

His Facebook page showed he also liked Playboy magazine and Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova. 

The page suddenly became unavailable on Saturday. 'Sorry, this content isn't available at the moment,' a message said.

Akilov's former co-worker, who had worked with him at a construction company in Sweden and did not wish to be named, said Akilov was a father who sent money home to a wife and several children living in Uzbekistan.

But one of his former colleagues has said that the terrorist had been sacked in January because he was 'sleeping on the job' and had since struggled to find work.

Akilov became unemployed and depressed and whiled away his days pointlessly, he said.

'He was fired from a project because he was sleeping on the job,' said the labourer, who works at a decontamination centre.

When the former colleague met him since by chance and asked him what he had been doing, he replied, 'I'm just smoking and sleeping,' the colleague told Aftonbladet newspaper.

Akilov worked at the construction company for a few months last year.

Six suspects were arrested on Saturday by police investigating the Stockholm truck attack. The first group were bundled out of a car at 5pm, and the others were surrounded when police raided a flat in Vårberg (pictured) later in the afternoon

Six suspects were arrested on Saturday by police investigating the Stockholm truck attack. The first group were bundled out of a car at 5pm, and the others were surrounded when police raided a flat in Vårberg (pictured) later in the afternoon

'He never expressed any radical or religious views. He was like any normal guy,' the former co-worker at the company told Reuters.

He said that Akilov's flatmate in Varberg, south of Stockholm, was devastated and moved out as soon as he heard reports Akilov may have been involved in the attack.

Akilov -- or someone with the same name -- appears to be listed as living at another address in the northern Stockholm suburb of Hjulsta. No one replied to enquiries at that address when a Reuters reporter visited the low-rise red building with white balconies overlooking a children's playground.

Akilov was also following a group on Facebook calling for the removal of former Uzbek president Islam Karimov, who died last September, as well as a group giving information on how to emigrate to the United States and Canada.

Akilov's Facebook page listed him as born in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, the central Asian country's second-largest city and one of the main stops on the ancient Silk Route.

Police have said that there are more than 3,000 migrants like him living in Stockholm unlawfully and escaping deportation. Today Sweden's Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven, furiously demanded that illegal immigrants be sent home.

A person who was arrested at 9am today has become the first alleged accomplice to be formally charged with terror offences by Stockholm's prosecutor.

Five other suspects are still being questioned in custody but this is the first terror charge brought against an alleged accomplice in the case. 

Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.