Norwegian police makes arrest in Russia-related espionage

A 27 years old is arrested by the Police Security Service (PST) in Oslo accused of espionage. He has at least two times in recent months been to Kirkenes, participating in a study program with the UiT The Arctic University of Norway.

The illegal intelligence gathering is shared with Russia's foreign intelligence service (SVR) and Iran, according to the court document. The Oslo District Court sided with the police attorney in a ruling Thursday afternoon on holding the accused in custody for four weeks as further investigations are carried out. “He accepts that there is suspicion of intelligence activities for foreign powers, but there is still a lot of law- and fact-finding to this case,” says the man's lawyer, John Christian Elden, in a sms to the Barents Observer. Elden adds that the man agreed to custody pending investigations. The man was detained in Oslo on Wednesday.

Police attorney Thomas Blom confirms to the Barents Observer via PST's spokesperson Erik Veum the arrest. Veum says the police suspects violation of both Section 122 in the Penal Code: Aggravated intelligence-gathering activity targeting state secrets and Section 126: Other unlawful intelligence-gathering. The accused has, according to the court document, admitted that he has collected and shared information with foreign states, but he denies to have committed espionage. Maximum imprisonment if found guilty is ten years. The arrested man has in recent months been to the border town of Kirkenes at least two times as participant in the bachelor study on security and preparedness arranged by UiT The Arctic University of Norway.

The Barents Observer then met him. His visits to the north is to the knowledge of the Barents Observer not connected to the charges of espionage or other illegal activities. There is little information to be found on internet when searching the arrested man's name. His Facebook profil contains no more than a name and a photo. According to the Norwegian business register, he is co-owner of a Oslo-based company engaged in guarding services.

PST says he was working as a security guard at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo. He shared information with the Russians and Iranians about who visited the embassy. The U.S. Embassy in Oslo has so far not commented on the information.