It has almost been a year since the terror attack in Oslo. news has mapped the movements of Matapour (43) in the hours before the attack: Went to the mosque to pray several times Cycled around the city “Disappeared” for several hours in the evening Took a taxi to the center of Oslo There are still more details from these hours that are not known: When and where did Matapour get the weapons he used in the deadly attack? What did Matapour do between 9pm and about midnight on the night of the murder? Investigative leader Ingvild Myrold in the Oslo police district tells news that through extensive investigations the police have a good picture of Matapour’s movements before the terrorist attack. WANT INFO: – We are interested in absolutely everything and we want people who have information about Matapour’s movements, especially on 24 June last year, to contact the police, says Myrold. Photo: NTB – There is still a period of time that we are working to elucidate further. We are interested in absolutely everything. His person, his movements, says Myrold to news. THE WEAPON: An MP40 submachine gun was used during the attack. This photo is an illustration photo, not the submachine gun Matapour used. Photo: MUSEUM VEST / BJØRN WEST MUSEUM The restaurant visit Just hours before the terrorist attack, PST and the E-service sat in a meeting in Nydalen. It was only five days since the last time they met, but the team they were talking about was the same: A possible and imminent terrorist attack in Norway. From before, the E-service had shared information that the well-known Islamist Arfan Bhatti was involved. Now they had discovered a Facebook update from Bhatti that could be perceived as a call for the murder of homosexuals. The profile picture of Arfan Bhatti in June 2022. The quote says that one should kill “the one who does like Lot’s people”. Bhatti also posted a photo of a burning Facebook flag, with a quote from the Koran, which is linked to punishment for homosexual acts. Photo: news/Facebook While the secret services sat and assessed the possible terrorist threat against Norway, thousands of Pride participants began to fill Oslo’s streets. PST still believed that they had too little information to take action. Just before 4pm in the afternoon, one of the meeting participants sent an e-mail to his colleagues: PST would pick up the matter again after the weekend. Around the same time, Matapour was caught on a surveillance camera. He was sitting alone in a restaurant. RESTAURANT: The police have published this surveillance image of Matapour in the restaurant. Photo: The police The 43-year-old was now making the final preparations for what could become one of the deadliest attacks in Europe in many years. Cyclists in the center Terror suspect Zaniar Matapour has been in custody since he was arrested. He has constantly refused to answer questions from the police. Therefore, the police’s work in mapping his movements has become very demanding. Matapour is also said to have taken several measures that make it more challenging to track him down, news reported. He used cash, which is much harder to track than bank cards. In the hours before the attack, he is said to have left his usual mobile phone inside the apartment. When he was arrested, he had several thousand in cash and a newly purchased, simple Alcatel mobile phone on him. In the trouser pocket, the police also found two SIM cards and keys to a bicycle. In the aftermath of the attack, the police started an extensive project, where large amounts of surveillance video were obtained and reviewed. The police have found images of Matapour from 24 June on cameras from several places in the city, and published several of these. ASK FOR VIDEO: Generally, surveillance videos must be deleted after seven days. After the terror in Oslo, the police asked everyone within this area to save the recordings for eight weeks. Photo: Unni Turid Grøndal / Unni Turid Grøndal news can now say that the police have also found surveillance footage of Matapour cycling with a black bag on his back. news’s investigations indicate that this is the first time that traces of the bag in which the weapons were hidden have been seen. The surveillance image is from just before 9pm in the evening. The bag was left at the scene after the mass shooting. BAG: This bag was left at the scene after the shooting. Photo: Nadir Alam / news These are the known movements of Zaniar Matapour on 24 June: Around 13.15 Zaniar Matapour is pictured in connection with his participation in the Friday prayer at the Rabita mosque in the center of Oslo, according to sources connected to the mosque. According to what news is informed, he should not have brought a bag into the mosque. FRIDAY PRAYER: Matapour was at the Rabita mosque in central Oslo to pray in the hours before the attack. Photo: Gunhild Hjermundrud / news Around 16.20 Nine hours before the attack, Matapour is pictured at a restaurant in central Oslo. In the surveillance photo, Matapour is wearing a blue T-shirt and a black prayer hat. Matapour still has his usual mobile phone with him. MEAL: Matapour was pictured at the restaurant Istanbul in central Oslo. Photo: Nadir Alam / news Around 18.00 Matapour is again depicted inside the mosque. news has spoken to others who were in the mosque that day, and this time he should not have had a bag with him either. After visiting the mosque, Matapour returns home to his apartment in central Oslo. APARTMENT: Matapour’s apartment is located in the center of Oslo. Photo: Sverre Holm-Nilsen / news 20.50 A few hundred meters away from Matapour’s apartment is a grocery store. At 20.50, what the police believe is Zaniar Matapour is pictured cycling past the front door of Bunnpris in Møllergata. ON A CYCLE: Zaniar Matapour cycles past the front door of Bunnpris in Møllergata. Photo: news The 43-year-old has now changed. He has put on another pair of trousers and a yellow T-shirt over the blue one. On his head he has a light blue cap. The surveillance image also clearly shows that he now has a black bag on his back. According to what news is informed, Matapour has also left his “ordinary” mobile phone in the apartment. Now he only has the Alcatel phone with him. At 20.53 Matapour continues to cycle north into the city. He passes a Kiwi shop and continues up Maridalsveien. CYCLING PAST: Matapour was also caught on surveillance camera when he passed this shop. Photo: Nadir Alam / news These are the movements in the centre: news has not been able to track down any more photos or information about where Matapour has been between 8.53pm and just before midnight. Then Matapour appeared in the south of Oslo. Investigation leader Ingvild Myrold says that she does not want to enter into the investigation of this, but says they have formed a good picture. Recorded a pledge of allegiance at a friend’s The next known track is thus several hours later, and more than 10 kilometers away from the previous observation in Maridalsveien. A little before midnight, Matapour is said to have visited a friend’s apartment. The man in his 40s is said to have explained that Matapour had the black bag with him. Inside the apartment, Matapour recorded a so-called “bay’ah” – a pledge of allegiance to IS. The promise was saved as an audio file and, according to news, forwarded from the phone to the friend. Whether it was Matapour or the friend who actually sent the file is unknown to news. The friend is one of those who have later been charged with complicity in terrorism. He denies criminal guilt, and in questioning he is said to have explained that he knew nothing about Matapour’s plans or what he had with him in the bag. Lawyer Victoria Holmen is the man’s defender. Defense attorney Victoria Homen says that the man in his 40s denies criminal guilt. Photo: My Tien Diep When asked what her client has explained about why Matapour came to the apartment, whether the friend assisted in recording the pledge of allegiance and whether he knew about Matapour’s terrorist plans, Holmen replies: – The questions asked were thoroughly answered during police interrogation, which I cannot refer from the present time where the investigation is simultaneously ongoing. In conversations with the agent from the E-service, Arfan Bhatti has explained that the plan was for Matapour to play the pledge of allegiance as a video, but that he did not make it, news is informed. Found another bike news does not know how Matapour got from central Oslo to his friend’s apartment. Outside the friend’s apartment, the police found a bicycle belonging to Matapour. This must have been an electric bike, and not the same bike he was pictured on earlier in the evening. The bicycle Matapour used on the evening of 24 June was found in the center of Oslo in the aftermath of the attack. – We have found the bicycle, but for the sake of the investigation we do not want to say more about where it was found, says investigative leader Ingvild Myrold in the Oslo police district to news. Took a taxi to town While Matapour recorded the pledge of allegiance, the Pride party was well underway in central Oslo. At 00.35 he was picked up by a taxi. Matapour had the black bag with him in the taxi. The taxi driver dropped Matapour off at Holbergs plass. He then took the tram on to the Court House. Matapour’s defender, Marius Dietrichson, says the timeline is key. – To the timeline you are now drawing: These are absolutely central questions. Who did the accused speak to before committing the attack? Why did he do what he did? It requires an answer, not only for the offender who is now being put on the dock, but I think the whole of civil society also required an answer to that, says Dietrichson to news. At 01.12.08, images from a surveillance camera show that Matapour got off the 18 tram. RUNNING: Matapour captured by a surveillance camera in the center of Oslo. Photo: The police / NTB 40 seconds later, the first shot was fired.
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