It was in the spring of 2023 that Landerholm forgot classified documents at Gällöfsta course center in Kungsängen, for which he is now being prosecuted.
The documents were found in Landerholm's room by a cleaner – a woman from Georgia, according to the preliminary investigation.
Four months later, 15,000 kronor were transferred to the woman's bank account by a man who, according to Säpo, moves in violent Islamist circles.
The man is a Russian citizen of Chechen origin. According to the preliminary investigation, Säpo believed in 2019 that the man should be deported for security reasons.
The man has a brother who is well-known to the authorities. The brother, who is in his 55-year-old, is said to have fought against Russia in both Chechen wars and is said to have a prominent role in Swedish jihadist circles with origins in the Caucasus.
Armed Liberation
He sought asylum in Sweden in 2007, but was denied. In 2011, he escaped from the Migration Agency's detention center in Gävle during an armed liberation. The following year, he was arrested and convicted of serious weapons offenses, but could not be sent to Russia for humanitarian reasons.
In 2014, he was prosecuted – and acquitted – for terrorist offenses after instructing his son in Syria to blow up a prison wall in Aleppo.
He belongs to a cluster of Caucasian, Chechen groups that are as much involved in violent extremism as criminality, and they are more closed than others, linguistically and culturally, says Magnus Ranstorp.
Ranstorp thinks that Gällöfsta should have had better control over its cleaners, as the course center is run by a foundation under the supervision of the Ministry of Defense.
It's remarkable. When you have security-sensitive activities, then you can't take the cheapest option. It's important to have control over those who move around in the premises.
"Can be Bad Luck"
Säpo has not been able to get in touch with the cleaner, who is now in Georgia, according to the preliminary investigation. So what suggests that the transfer would be about anything other than, for example, a cleaning assignment?
It can just be bad luck that this particular person cleans just that room. There is no evidence that these documents have a connection to this transaction, says Ranstorp.
If the classified documents have ended up in the wrong hands, the motive is hardly traditional espionage, according to the terrorism researcher.
If they've done it, then it's not about acting on behalf of Russia or any other country. Then it's more about thinking that you can sell the documents.
