On the way into Rinkeby, the 60 Minutes crew, working on a story about the European refugee crisis, was reportedly hassled and then once they had arrived, a 60 Minutes producer and cameraman were allegedly assaulted by "masked men" who confronted them after police escorts left them unprotected. It is not known why the six officers with the crew decided to leave them alone in Rinkeby. Jan (or January) Sjunnesson, the man who claims he guided the 60 Minutes crew into Rinkeby, Sweden, where they were apparently attacked. Credit:Facebook Sjunnesson's "report" was later picked up by other Swedish outlets. In addition to touting himself as 60 Minutes' guide in that article, Sjunnesson was also offering interviews to Swedish radio with "my 60 [Minutes] team" about what really went on in Rinkeby. Nine has refuted any suggestion of a partnership with Sjunnesson or Avpixlat, despite yesterday saying they agreed with the website's version of events. "We categorically deny any suggestion we were in cahoots with this organisation, we merely interviewed them in an effort to get all sides of the story," the spokesman said.

However the spokesman accepted Sjunnesson had used the 60 Minutes team to push his message: "I would have thought if you're a right wing group and you've got Australia's leading current affairs program with you, that you're going to exploit that opportunity no matter how warped your message is. "They are going to do whatever they can to further their interest." Fairfax has been contacted by several members of the Swedish press concerned over Sjunnesson's involvement in a story about asylum seekers and immigration. One reporter for tabloid newspaper Expressen wrote that taking Sjunnesson's guidance "would be like a Swedish crew coming to Australia and using Pauline Hanson as a fixer to cover immigration related issues." "Avpixlat is not being taking seriously by established media in Sweden, as it is regarded as too extreme," he wrote.

Another reporter for public service broadcast network SVT said Avpixlat "is a far right-wing extremist site which only produces racist articles about refugees with the goal to stop immigration to Sweden completely". She added that 60 Minutes "will not likely get a neutral and objective side of the story with [Sjunnesson], because his journalism is far from that." Avpixlat are widely regarded as propaganda website for the opposition Sweden's immigration policies. It has also been linked to the far-right Swedish Democrat party. Sjunnesson's Twitter feed claims he was with the 60 Minutes crew over two days. He also claimed he and another well-known anti-immigration figure, Tino Sanandaji, would appear in the final 60 Minutes program, which is due to screen in Australia in coming weeks. Sjunnesson also boasted the 60 Minutes story appeared in international media.

On Monday night (Stockholm time) Swedish police had dropped an investigation into the assaults as no complaints had been made. A spokesman for Stockholm police is quoted in English-language news service The Local as saying: "If someone has been punched please tell them to go to a police station and make a report because we cannot do any investigation based on what is in a paper or on Twitter or Facebook." Jan Sjunnesson has been approached for comment.