“We consider the informant to be very credible. We had ships and ground units nearby, so we were able to quickly respond to that observation. Unfortunately, it did not yield any results,” Swedish Armed Forces spokesman Philip Simon was quoted as saying by the Dagens Nyheter newspaper.
The second search mission reportedly took place after a civilian with extensive military experience reported seeing what he believed to be a submarine tower on October 31. According to him, the alleged submarine, spotted near the island of Stora Hoggarn northeast of Stockholm, was heading toward the capital.
This possible new submarine was photographed, Dagens Nyheter said. “It looks like a black submarine tower. You can also see several other ships that operate normally in the waters, such as the Finland ferries,” said one of the newspaper’s military sources who claims to have seen the picture.
The Swedish Armed Forces launched a major search operation off the coast of Stockholm on October 17 after receiving reports on the presence of a suspicious underwater object in the region.
On October 24, the operation was called off, failing to yield any results. Swedish officials confirmed, however, that a small submarine had violated the country’s territorial waters.
