A 43-year-old Swedish citizen will be spending six and a half years in prison after he tried to bomb a British crypto firm.
The convict tried to get back at the company due to their failure to reset the password to his account. Local police revealed that, the pack with a bomb was unopened at the office premises or more than five months.
The London Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command noted that an explosive device was sent earlier this year to the Cryptopay office. Swedish resident, Michael Salonen sent a padded envelope containing the explosive device.
In March 2018, a man working at the Hackney office block of the company saw the package and tried opening it. However, he became suspicious and immediately notified the authorities. The bomb was then defused by bomb experts while cops from the London Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command came in large numbers.
It was later discovered that the said package was delivered to the office in November 2017. As at the time the package arrived, Cryptopay was yet to move into the premises; it was occupied by an accounting firm that was being used by Cryptopay. Salonen probably sent the device there because he thought that was the Cryptopay office.
The British investigators had tried all they could to match the DNA found on the package with UK databases, all to no avail. They later went to Interpol for help, who later successfully tracked down Salonen which led to his arrest on 12th May.
Salonen was accused of both sending threatening letters to UK and Swedish citizens and for making an attempt to bomb the Cryptopay office. One of the threatening letters he sent had in it a white powder, which was later discovered to be harmless. Bomb components were also found at his residence.
The Met police discovered that Salonen was a Cryptopay customer who had demanded the company to reset his password. However the company cited its privacy policy as a reason for declining his request.
A spokesperson for the company said: “[Salonen] contacted our support and we gave him the link to reset his password. He then asked if our team (a support agent) could do it, which we are not able to do.”
Head of the Met Police Counter Terrorism Command, Commander Clarke Jarett said that: “Salonen seemingly made and sent a device that had the capability to seriously harm and even kill over something as inconsequential as a change of password. Fortunately, the bomb did not detonate. It was due to sheer luck that the recipient ripped opened the package in the middle rather than using the envelope flap which would have activated the device.”
Salonen has been found guilty of sending malicious letters and attempted murder.
