TWO 13-YEAR-OLD boys have been arrested on suspicion of murdering a 65-year-old man on a farm in southwestern Sweden, police said today.

“It’s highly unusual that such young people are suspected of such a serious crime as murder,” police investigator Cecilia Bergsten said in a statement.

The man was found dead on his farm by a relative yesterday, but police have not disclosed how he died.

“Witness accounts and objects that link one of the boys to the scene led police to the two boys,” the police statement said, adding that the two were suspected of murder.

The pair, whose identities were not disclosed, were arrested yesterday evening and taken in for questioning.

Both boys were at the time on the run from a foster home in Varberg, in southwestern Sweden, and yesterday were in the care of social welfare authorities.

“Interrogations have been held with the boys, but no details will be disclosed about what emerged nor the boys’ position regarding the suspicions,” the police statement said.

According to the online edition of Gothenburg tabloid GT, the boys are not brothers.

In Sweden, children under the age of 15 cannot be charged with a crime or go on trial. Instead, they are placed in the care of social welfare authorities.

Police are not allowed to hold children under 15 in custody either, but can interrogate them as part of an investigation.

© AFP 2015. 

Read: Germanwings co-pilot researched suicide methods and cockpit doors >

Read: The man behind the Sunday Game theme song has died >