A Swedish prosecutor has decided not to press charges against the three Swedes arrested on suspicion of funding terrorism earlier this year.
Prosecutor Ronnie Jacobsson said Friday he could not prove that the men had intended to send money to terrorist organizations.
The three — all Swedish citizens in their 30's and 40's — were arrested in raids in Stockholm in February. They were are accused of using the informal money transfer networks called hawalas to send funds to alleged terror groups in Somalia.
The paperless system, based on trust and oral agreements, is commonly used in the Middle East, parts of Asia and Africa.
Two of the men were held for more than three months before being released at the start of the summer.
Defense lawyer Thomas Olsson said it was very tragic that his client had been kept in detention for such a long time despite the weak evidence against him.
It is a failure for Swedish law and order, he said.
However, Jacobsson pointed out that a court had tried the detention order every two weeks and found there was reason to keep them detained.
The February raid in Stockholm, was coordinated with a crackdown in Norway, where another three suspects were arrested on similar grounds. Jacobsson said the Norwegian investigation is still ongoing.
Both Norway and Sweden have been spared violent terror acts, but authorities in both countries have voiced concern about terrorists or terror financiers operating out of Scandinavia.
In 2005, two Iraqis were sentenced to prison in Sweden for collecting and transferring money to terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the late leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.
