Swedish Defence mobilized to contain leaking ferry ship - The Nordic Reporter

SWEDEN, 27 OCT 2023: The Swedish Home Defence (Hemvärnet) has mobilized 30 of its troops to assist in the operation underway to clean a big oil contamination that the ferry Marco Polo has caused after it ran aground in the bay of Pukavik, southern Sweden. The Swedish Coast Guard so far has cleard 21 cubic metres of oil, both from the Baltic Sea as well as beaches, but estimates another 300 cubic metres is left in the vessel’s fuel tanks. TT-Lines’ Marco Polo was on its way from Trelleborg to Karlshamn, both on the Swedish south coast, when it hit the ground. None of the 41 passengers and 29 crew were physically hurt. The Swedish Coast Guard has confirmed the vessel went of course, but has not given any detail yet as long as the investigation in the incident continues. The Marco Polo is a roll-on/roll-off ferry with three vehicle decks. It can accommodate up to 215 passengers. Acccording to TT-Lines the Marco Polo was built by the Van der Giessen-De Noord shipyard in the Netherlands and commissioned in April 1993, and used in the Mediterranean. The Remontowa shipyard in Gdańsk rebuilt the vessel in 2019 for use in the Baltic Sea.

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SWEDEN, 20 NOV 2023: Swedish police is not allowed to block the burning of the Quran citing possible disturbance of public order. This is the final decision by the highest public rule court of Sweden (Högsta Förvaltningsdomstolen) on a case in Norrköping last year. The police in Sweden decides over demonstrations, and freedom of expression is kept in high regard. This apparently includes the burning of holy books. In many places in Sweden riots broke out during Easter 2022 and later, after individuals burned the Quran to make a public statement.

SWEDEN, 18 NOV 2023: The wave of violence that is marking an ongoing gangs conflict within the Foxtrot organised crime network in Sweden has spread to Bosnia-Herzegowina. Two young man with Swedish passports, a 19-year-old and a 25-year-old were arrested in Sarajevo on 17 November, suspected of killing a 31-year-old Swedish gang leader in the Bosnian capital on 31 October. Another gang member, a 22-year-old from Norrköping was wounded in the same assassination attempt. The killed gang member was already a target of an attack earlier, on 6 September in Istanbul. According to Swedish media the arrested 19-year-old is from Malmö, is suspect in the attempted killing of the father in law of Rawa M, the leader of the Foxtrot network, in Uppsala on 13 September. He is apparently already known by authorities since he was 13 years old.

NORWAY, 15 NOV 2023: The Norwegian government announced on Wednesday it will invest NOK 12.5 billion (about EUR 1.07 billion) in upgrading and expanding the air defence network of the Scandinavian country. Norway has a credible indigenous development of surface-to-air missile systems. The NASAMS made by Norwegian defence corp. Kongsberg has been exported to a dozen countries, including the United States that uses the system to protect high-value locations in Washington DC. The US government has even been bought the NASAMS for delivery to the Ukrainian armed forces.