PET failed to warn Danish asylum centre about radicalised resident

Security agency lapse led to attack on a police officer

The national intelligence agency PET failed to warn employees at Sandholm asylum centre that a 25-year-old stateless Palestinian man who had been transferred there last July was dangerous. The man subsequently stabbed a police officer last September.

In a letter set to Parliament, Søren Pind, the justice minister, attributed the incident to a failure of both the centre in Holmegaard, where the man lived during the summer of 2015, and also PET to inform Sandholm that the Palestinian had been radicalised, that he sympathised with the terrorist organisation IS, and that he could be mentally unstable. He had also previously attacked a Swedish minister.

Miscommunication
PET said in Pind’s report it had “become aware that there has been a miscommunication” and that it had failed to advise Sandholm of a conversation between PET and the Holmegaard centre recommending that they should tell the new location about the suspect’s mental state.

READ MORE: Man charged with police officer stabbing sympathises with IS and previously attacked Swedish minister

The officer who was stabbed survived the attack, but was briefly in a critical condition.

The 25-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder.

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