The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommends “extreme attention and caution” when traveling to Sweden following the Swedish government’s decision to raise the terrorist alert level. The ministry has updated its travel recommendations after the Swedish authorities on Thursday raised the terrorist threat level to the second highest due to several factors, including protests by several Muslim countries over the recent burning of the Koran in this Scandinavian country. .
The threatfor the first time in seven years, goes from third to fourth level on a scale of fivewhich is now assumed to be “alta“, although the Swedish intelligence services rejected that there are specific suspicions and spoke of a joint analysis.
Consequently, the Travel Recommendations page of the Foreign Affairs website has changed this Friday, after the Swedish authorities consider that their country “has gone from being a ‘legitimate’ terrorist target to being a ‘priority’ target, with an increase in the possibilities of attacks” in it. For this reason, the department that directs in functions Jose Manuel Albares advises “extreme attention and caution, especially in places with a large influx of people” and take into account the Consular emergency telephone number of the embassy “in case of threat or terrorist attack”.
The page also warns of the alert issued by the Swedish authorities about “extreme weather episodes in some areas of the country, with the possibility of heavy rains and floods.” The third potential risk issue in Sweden is the citizen security and criminal since, according to Foreign Affairs, the country “has some surprisingly high crime rates“.
Thus, he points out that, with increasing frequency, robberies in tourist areasso it is necessary to “be careful with personal belongings” in points such as the historic center of Stockholm, the railway and metro stations, and the buses that connect the airports with the main cities.