Finnish Police Received Tip on Radicalized Turku Stabbing Suspect - Reports

The Finnish police and the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo) received a tip in early 2017 from a member of public that the key suspect in the stabbing attack in the southwestern city of Turku was radicalized, local media reported Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – On Friday, two people were killed and eight others were injured in a knife attack in Turku's market square. The key suspect, who was shot by the police while being detained, is an 18-year-old citizen of Morocco. The suspect arrived in Turku last year and was trying to get asylum in Finland.

According to the Yle broadcaster, a foreign national had contacted the Southwest Finland Police Department early in 2017 about the suspected perpetrator of the attacks, claiming that he was radicalized and interested in extreme ideology. The police department then reportedly passed the information into Supo.

Supo's communications chief Jyri Rantala confirmed the receipt of such information, adding that there had been no mention of a terrorist attack, Yle reported.