Supo warned of violence ahead of Turku stabbings

The Finnish Security Intelligence Service (SUPO) had received a warning of possible violent assault before the stabbings occurred in the southwest port city of Turku on Friday, national broadcaster Yle reported Monday.

A private person had informed local police of the attacker and the police had sent the information to SUPO, Yle said.

SUPO confirmed to Yle that it had received the information but said it had no concrete reference to violence. SUPO said it receives around a thousand pieces of such information per year and it has to prioritize.

The stabbings mounted by an 18-year-old Moroccan on Friday afternoon at two squares in Turku left two Finnish women dead and eight others wounded.

The attacker, Abderrahman Mechkah, was an asylum seeker who entered Finland in 2016. He was still waiting for his final decision before he committed the crime.

SUPO's head of media relations Jyri Rantala told Yle that the information about a concrete threat gets priority. Currently 350 people are being surveilled, but Mechkah was not among them.

Police have filed requests to keep Mechkah and his four Moroccan companions in custody, as the stabbings in Turku are being investigated.

The charges against him are two murders committed in a terrorism related interest, and eight attempts of the same.

Police have informed news media that Mechkah will be present at the hearing in Turku via videolink from a hospital. Such practice is common in Finnish courts.

Four other Moroccans are being suspected of assistance to the crime committed by Mechkah. They have denied the suspicions.