(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Sweden also has its CIA. A secret spy organization that collects information about left-wing radicals in its home country and sends its agents to Eastern Europe, developing countries and the Middle East. It helps the Western spy organizations with information in their fight against "world communism" and against the liberation movements in the poor world. The Information Agency (IB) is an illegal organisation. The business it runs is in violation of the Swedish constitution. For several years, employees of the Swedish magazine Folket i Bild have painstakingly gathered information about IB. In the last issue, they pull the secret veil away from the organization.
Soviet / USA
IB has agents in Eastern Europe. They spy in Egypt for the benefit of Israel, infiltrate Swedish trade unions, FNL groups and political parties, break into embassies and other offices they are interested in. This whole business is a clear violation of Sweden's constitution and neutrality. The IB takes care of all the dirty tasks that the civilian surveillance police SÄPO and the military intelligence organization cannot perform. It is the Minister of Defence, who, in collaboration with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, draws up the lines for IB's activities.
Officially, the organization does not exist. It covers itself behind a number of small companies.
Where the legal surveillance and intelligence organizations' work opportunities end, the IB begins its activities. Officially, the organization does not exist. It hides behind a number of small firms – a way of working that is also common for other intelligence organisations. Officially, Sweden is a neutral country – something that the entire administration and administration in the foreign administration must comply with. But the IB sees the Soviet Union and the Eastern European states as enemies and the United States and the Western powers as allies.
spy center
The information agency operates primarily in Finland, the Baltic countries, Norway, East Germany, Poland, West Germany and Denmark. In addition, there is business conducted against the Arab states. But an equally important area of work for IB are left-wing radical organizations in Sweden: the FNL movement, VPK, Marxist-Leninists. The Palestinian groups and the Sweden-China friendship are infiltrated with agents from the organization.
One tracks down, maps and analyzes "communist" activities.
Another branch of the espionage activity targets the trade union movement in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. One is looking to track down, map and analyze "communist" activity.
IB has around 100 employees and a budget of SEK 10 million. The money is allocated from the defense budget under the item "other activities". The employees are paid either directly from the defense staff or from various military institutions (where the employees have obviously never set foot). The business is camouflaged behind a number of small business companies. They are spy centers.
The espionage abroad is carried out both independently and in collaboration with the CIA (USA), MI6 (Great Britain), Shin Beth (Israel) and SDECE (France). IB also has contacts with intelligence organizations in Denmark and Norway. All these organizations have contact persons in Sweden. In addition, direct telex connections have been established to the collaboration partners. The organizations exchange information, help each other with information about people, recruit agents, and prepare operations. As an example, it can be mentioned that IB planned and participated in a secret landing exercise on the Finnish coast a couple of years ago.
The staff at Folket i Bild have had quite a puzzle to put together. IB often changes premises, changes routines and makes use of many different cars and contacts. Nevertheless, they have managed to uncover the intelligence organisation's activities. They tell themselves why and how. In the face of an illegal organisation, normal journalistic work routines are not used:
The people at Bild took 2500 photographs, found information in trade registers, military rolls, state calendars, car registers and tax books.
The "investigators" used many of the same technical aids that they tracked down. Both telephoto lenses and advanced technical equipment were in use. They took 2500 photographs and can present the readers with the management layer and most of the key employees in IB. It took painstaking work to check and cross-register information in trade registers, military rolls, state calendars, car registers and tax books. But the most time-consuming job was shadowing the employees of the Information Agency. The team has been working on the case for several years.
The people at Bild have done the public a great service. It is known that the USA/NATO and the other states the IB cooperates with have prepared coup plans. The names IB collects are postponed if the plans are realised. Folket i Bild no. 9/73 presents an eerie, well-documented story. Buy the magazine and read for yourself.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: (Two of) Folket I Bild's journalists, Jan Guillou and Peter Bratt, were arrested by the Security Police on 7 November 1973 and sentenced to one year in prison for espionage on 4 January 1974. The Court of Appeal reduced Guillou's sentence to 10 months. The Swedish constitution was subsequently amended so that journalists could not be tried for similar cases.
https://www.arbetsvarlden.se/jan-guillou-utmana-staten-att-satta-oss-alla-i-fangelse/_One of the sources they had, Håkan Isacsson, who himself had worked for the IB, was convicted of aiding and abetting espionage. No one else was punished.
https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/5522466 A documentary about the IB affair is at SVT Play https://www.svtplay.se/video/jG512vG/ib-hemligare-an-sapo
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