Sweden: Police killed in bank robbery
01 May 1999
Three Swedish men were arrested and charged with killing two police officers during their getaway from a bank robbery in the mid-Swedish town, Malexander by Lillsjon. The three are Andreas Axelsson (28), Jackie Arklof (25) and Tony Olsson (23). All are linked to the nazi Nationalsocialist Front (NSF). During their getaway Axelsson was seriously injured in a gunfight with the two police officers who died. His two companions forced a passing driver to take him to a hospital and made their escape. After a major police operation, Arklof was found in a Stockholm suburb and was shot during his arrest. Olsson managed to leave Sweden but was traced to Costa Rica and extradited back to Sweden on 19 June.
The leader of the NSF, Anders Hogstrom, has confirmed that Axelsson was a member of his party, but has declined to confirm questions about his position in the organisation. According to the Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet and Sydsvenska Dagbladet he was the editor of the fascist newspaper Stormpress.
Arklof is professional soldier and has for some years been active as a mercenary in the former-Yugoslavia. He was convicted of war crimes carried out in the Cepljina prison camp in Croatia, and was sentenced to 13 years in prison for torture and the degrading treatment of human beings. He appealed against the verdict and his sentence was reduced to nine years. In 1997 he returned to Sweden on a prisoner exchange programme and was later released. While in prison he met Axelsson and became involved in nazi activities.
Olsson was involved in a nazi gang in his small hometown and, according to newspaper reports, developed a habit of attacking foreigners, leftists and other "deranged" people. He too got in contact with Axelsson and planned to rob a security van. During the robbery he fired his shotgun at the driver. He was convicted for this robbery and served a five year and six months prison sentence. Olsson was on prison leave as part of a rehabilitation program.
The NSF was founded in 1994 and is based in the city of Karlskrona. Its founders were inspired by Vitt Arisk Motsand (White Arian Resistance). Politically they are linked to Swedish nazi traditions of the 1930s, and a strong anti-semitism is a characteristic feature of their politics. The NSF, with two other nazi organisations, held an anti-Jewish demonstration in Stockholm on 9 November 1998 - the date commemorates Kristallnacht 1938 when German nazis attacked Jewish property initiating the systematic persecution of Jews.
Aftonbladet May 1999; Ekstra Bladet May 1999; BT June 1999; Monitor, no 3, 1998.