Gang criminals are transporting bombs across the country – in cars, but also on mopeds and in public transportation. If a bomb contains a detonator, it can explode already during transport.
There is a certain risk that it will explode if you were to drop it, says expert Henric Östmark.
During the recent wave of violence in Sweden, homemade bombs have been used on several occasions. Last week, two people were arrested at Stockholm's central station who, according to information to Aftonbladet, had a thermos bomb in a bag.
Both are detained on probable cause suspected of crimes against the law on flammable and explosive goods, gross crime, and for preparation for gross general destruction.
Certain risk
How common homemade bombs are on public places cannot be said, according to Marie Borgh, section chief at the National Bomb Protection.
If you are to carry out an explosion, the object must be transported from A to B. Most transports are made by someone who has been commissioned to do so. It can be anything from driving your own moped, car, or public transportation, says Borgh.
Henric Östmark, unit manager at FOI and expert on explosives, tells that there are several cases where detonators have been found in explosives during transport.
This makes the bomb even more sensitive. There is a certain risk that it will explode if you were to drop it.
Easy to manufacture
According to Henric Östmark, the bombs are easy to manufacture if you have access to the starting materials. It is also relatively easy to get hold of civilian explosives, such as dynamite.
It is still stolen from construction sites. There have also been bomb factories in Sweden where you could buy bombs straight away. The explosives that have normally been used recently are civilian, stolen explosives or explosive bangers that you can buy from abroad via the internet.
The extent of the damage the bomb can cause depends on how large it is.
The ones we have seen in Sweden have been everything from a small thermos with a couple of hundred grams of some explosive, to large bombs where we are talking about kilograms. We have seen that an entire row of houses has been destroyed and facades of buildings, says Östmark.
