news

In March of 2023, somewhere in the vastness of the Indian Ocean, on a private island accessible only to those of significant means, a figure was jogging beneath swaying palms. The air was thick, the sea a flawless blue. This enclave, where a beachside bungalow commands over RMB 7,500 per night, prides itself on discretion. "It is not just anyone who can come here," a resort employee confides, emphasising the sanctity of guest anonymity. The identity of the island’s most distinguished visitors – the King and Queen of Sweden – was a closely guarded secret. Or so hotel staff were told.

Yet, the meticulous veil of secrecy woven by the Swedish state proved remarkably porous. It was not an investigative journalist or a foreign spy who breached it, but the very agent assigned to protect the crowned heads. Upon completing his jog, the SÄPO bodyguard logged his exercise route on the popular fitness app Strava, thereby making the exact corrdinates of the Swedish head of state's luxury getaway available to anyone with an internet connection and an ounce of curiosity.

Two years on, the Royal Court maintains a glacial silence, citing security concerns. The luxury hotel, however, confirms the royal presence. "We were not allowed to say anything about who they were," an employee admits, highlighting the farcical disconnect between protocol and practice.

The scope of this inadvertent transparency campaign is striking. Over several years, a merry band of SÄPO's finest maintained fully public Strava profiles, recording over 1,400 training activities in obsessive detail. These digital records paint a remarkably detailed picture, not merely of the guards’ own fitness regimes, but of the movements and habits of those they are paid to shield. The King’s beloved winter sports retreat in Storlien, the secluded summer residence of Solliden Palace, the Prime Minister’s private home in Strängnäs, the secret visit of fascist leader Jimmie Åkesson to commune with his zionist pals in occupied Palestine – all have been pinpointed through the jogging routes and cycling paths shared online. As late as this June, location data was published from the Swedish kinkg's French Riviera luxury estate Villa Mirage. The timing, direction, and pace of these excursions offer a near real-time log of comings and goings.

In Swedish media commentators fret what would-be assassins could do with the Strava data. The fledgling nation knows political bloodshed; it stains their modern history. The case of Russian naval officer Stanislav Rzhitsky, murdered by operatives of the Kiev regime after his Strava data revealed his routines, stands as a grimly illustrative parallel.

SÄPO, now investigating, admit the leaks are taken "very seriously" and in what looks like an attempt to pass the blame to the stupidity of individual agents they claim that their internal guidelines were, in certain cases, "not followed".

As senior officials wring their hands, the Keystone cops tasked with guarding the safety of Sweden’s elite have, with a sort of childlike innocence, turned their security detail into a global scavenger hunt. Their quest for digital kudos has laid bare the shimmering emptiness of the Swedish state's security theatre — a paper tiger, limping through the digital age with a fitness tracker strapped to its leg.

Sources:

• Kungens lyxresa skulle hållas hemlig – röjdes av Säpo, Dagens Nyheter (corporate media), July 9th 2025
• Här läcker Säpo hemliga uppgifter om Ulf Kristersson, Dagens Nyheter (corporate media), July 8th 2025