Swedish man behind bars after sending letter bomb to London crypto firm

New Scotland Yard - Met Police headquarters

A Swedish man has been sentenced to almost seven years in jail after sending a letter-bomb to a cryptocurrency firm in London.

Officers from The Met Police say they believe 43-year-old Jermu Michael Salonen from Stockholm sent the “potentially lethal” device to Cryptopay after the company had been unable to help him reset his password.

Salonen emailed Cryptopay in August 2017 requesting a new password for his account with the Bitcoin wallet provider, but was refused as the request “contravened privacy policy”.

The padded envelope was sent to Cryptopay’s old offices in Hackney. By the time it was delivered, the premises were being used by an accountancy firm where a worker had begun to open the package but quickly became suspicious of its contents.

Counter terrorism officers said the worker had been extremely fortunate in how the potentially-lethal device was not triggered.

“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,” said Met Police Counter Terrorism Commander Clarke Jarrett.

Traces of DNA allowed Interpol track Salonen down to his home where Swedish police officers – who say Salonen was known to them – discovered several bomb-making components.

Darren Parkin

Darren Parkin is a highly experienced, award-winning editor with a background in daily newspapers. Once the UK’s youngest newspaper editor, he has spent more than three decades as a journalist, presenter and broadcaster. He was one of the first people to join the Coin Rivet team, and can often be found hosting, chairing or moderating cryptocurrency and blockchain events throughout the world. Away from the office, he is an outdoors instructor and adventurer. He recently set a world endurance record during a canoe expedition.