On Friday evening, a 25-year-old foreign citizen was arrested by PST, charged with having conducted intelligence against Norway. It is unclear who the man is supposed to have conducted intelligence on behalf of. In the order it is stated that “his rental car has been observed on camera surveillance at the same time as a signal assessment is made at the Government Quarters, the Prime Minister’s office and the Ministry of Defence”. Furthermore, the right refers to a report on surveillance. – We don’t quite know what we are facing. We are in a critical, initial and vulnerable phase of the investigation, says police attorney Blom in PST to news. On Sunday afternoon, the court decided to imprison the student accused of espionage for four weeks with a ban on letters and visits. The man will serve the first two weeks in solitary confinement. – There is a real and highly imminent danger of tampering with evidence, which means that we are limited in what we are going with now, says Blom. The man is charged under Section 121 of the Criminal Code. With a fine or imprisonment of up to 3 years, whoever, for the benefit of a foreign state, terrorist organization or without valid reason, collects or comes into possession of secret information which, if it becomes known to such a state , terrorist organization or otherwise disclosed, may damage fundamental national interests that apply to a. defense, security and preparedness matters, b. the activities, security or freedom of action of the highest state bodies, c. relations with other states, d. security arrangements for the representation of foreign states and at major national and international events, e. society’s infrastructure, such as food, water and energy supply, transport and telecommunications, health emergency services or the banking and monetary system, or, for example, Norwegian natural resources. Source: Law data He says the police have seized a number of data-carrying devices and electronic objects which the PST will now investigate. – Did he operate alone? – We have a hypothesis that he has not done that. – Who has he collaborated with according to that hypothesis? – It is the subject of the investigation we will be conducting now. The police prosecutor will also not comment on how PST believes the man has operated, or what goals he has had in Norway. news was present when the man was produced for imprisonment at 11.30 this morning, but is subject to a record ban. Photo: Ingrid Emilie Waaler Alleged to have conducted signals intelligence – He is charged with using technical installations to have conducted illegal signals intelligence, says Blom. Former chief of defense Sverre Diesen explains that signals intelligence is intercepting communications such as radio communications, mobile telephony or text messages. – Eavesdropping on telephones or other forms of communication is not legal for intelligence purposes. Diesen says that certain forms of communication are protected, by encryption or in other ways. These require special equipment and are more difficult to listen to. – If it is encrypted, you must also be able to decrypt it, and that is quite demanding. This will usually require large resources, both technically and in terms of expertise. The National Security Authority (NSM) confirms to news that they are assisting PST in the case, but will not answer news’s questions about the case for the sake of the investigation. Does not plead guilty According to the police attorney, the man did not want to explain himself to PST. Lawyer Kirsten Sigmond represented the man in court on Sunday, but her colleague and sister Aase Karin Sigmond is the man’s defender. Photo: Ingrid Emilie Waaler According to defender Aase Karin Sigmond in Sigmond & Ysen, it is because he was in bad shape after a “dramatic” arrest. – The arrest, lack of access to the documents, stay in solitary confinement and he was very affected by sitting with the police. He was not prepared to go into any questioning either, she says to news. Neither Sigmond nor Blom want to describe the arrest of the man in more detail. However, Blom describes the arrest as “undramatic”. Neither party will comment on what the man has done in Norway, how long he has been here, or which country the man is a citizen of. – He consents to imprisonment so that the police will have the opportunity to investigate the case further, he does not admit criminal guilt in relation to the charge, says Sigmond. In PST’s threat assessment from 2023, Russia in particular, but also China, Iran and North Korea are singled out as state actors that pose a “significant intelligence threat” to Norway. Tip news’s crime group: Do you have information about this case or other crime cases? Contact news’s crime group. You can tip us off by e-mail or through news’s encrypted notification service. Here you can tip us anonymously. We also treat all tips confidentially, in line with the Vær varsom poster’s rules on source protection.
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Signal output around the Prime Minister’s office – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
