The arrest of Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm last week resulted in much speculation about the motives and forces driving the action. In most scenarios it was assumed that Svartholm was arrested for his role in The Pirate Bay, but this turns out to be untrue. Sources confirmed to TorrentFreak that Svartholm is being held at the interior ministry's counter terrorism department in connection with the alleged hacking of a Swedish IT company and the subsequent leak of thousands of tax numbers.

Last week police arrested Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.

Initially little was known about the reasons for the arrest, but after a few days the authorities confirmed that Sweden was the driving force behind the actions. According to a spokesperson for the Cambodian police, Svartholm’s detainment is connected to alleged cyber-crimes.

“His arrest was made at the request of the Swedish government for a crime related to information technology,” he said.

Following this statement it was assumed that “information technology” referred to Svartholm’s involvement with The Pirate Bay. However, several sources now dispute this and say that Svartholm’s arrest is related to a hacking operation that may date back to 2010.

The hack targeted Swedish IT company Logica, which supplies services to the Swedish tax office. Earlier this year the hack made the headlines when the tax numbers of 9,000 Swedes leaked online.

In the months that followed two Swedish citizens in their thirties were arrested in connection with the hack. One of the suspects in question was a member of Piratbyran, the group that founded The Pirate Bay back in 2003 and was disbanded two years ago.

Svartholm would be the third suspect in the hacking case, which was previously described by the International Public Prosecution Office as “a big and sensitive investigation.”

A source told TorrentFreak that Svartholm is not awaiting his deportation in prison but is being held at the interior ministry’s counter terrorism department. This is confirmed by former Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde and the sources of Swedish news site DN.se.

On Twitter, Peter Sunde adds that Svartholm (aka Anakata) has not been offered a lawyer, and that the Swedish foreign ministry is not helping the Pirate Bay founder either.

“Swedish foreign ministry has not offered anakata legal help. They must do that in Sweden, but ignore it when they are behind the warrant,” Sunde says.

Svartholm is being held in an office space accompanied by personnel from the interior ministry and is currently awaiting the authorities’ next steps. On Monday, Cambodian officials confirmed that the Pirate Bay founder will eventually be deported.