Suspected ‘smell’ in Swedish spy agency office, eight hospitalized
Swedish police are investigating a foul smell at Sweden’s security service office, SAPO. Eight people were admitted to hospital after they reported the smell to the security services office. (Image: Reuters/Representative)
Swedish police have launched an investigation into reports of a suspicious smell at Sweden’s Security Service Office, SAPO.
Police launched an investigation on Friday after eight people with respiratory symptoms needed hospital treatment following a suspicious smell at a security services office in Sweden.
Photos from the scene showed police wearing gas masks alongside several ambulances and emergency vehicles as the area around the agency’s office, known as SAPO, was cordoned off.
“Today around 1:00 p.m. there were indications that there was a dangerous substance in the Sapo offices,” Patrik Soderberg, chief physician of the local health care authority region Stockholm, told AFP.
“A total of eight people with symptoms have been treated in hospital,” Region Stockholm said in a statement, adding that the cause of the leak was still unclear.
After ending their emergency operation, police said they had launched an investigation into “causing bodily harm”, but found no suspects.
Police said “an area of a hundred metres” around the building was cordoned off after a “possible gas leak”.
Some of those taken to hospital were officers who “sensed an odor upon arrival”, the service said in a statement.
SAPO spokeswoman Karin Lutz told AFP that the intelligence agency had called emergency services after receiving the alarm.
Lutz said the building was “partially evacuated” during the emergency, but declined to provide further details or comment on whether he suspected foul play.
In a later statement, Sapo said, “Emergency services ended the operation after confirming that there was no gas inside the premises or outside the building.”
The Nordic country is on high alert as it hopes to clear the final hurdle of its bid to join NATO on Monday, with the last holdout Hungary set to vote to ratify its membership.
Aftonbladet newspaper said witnesses reported smelling something that reminded them of paint, and locals were asked to close their windows.
Swedish media also reported that a gas sensor on the roof of the building had alerted to the presence of phosgene, but these reports have not been confirmed.
The gas was used as a chemical warfare agent during World War I, but is also widely used in industry to produce plastics and pesticides.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP)
