The Norwegian Islamist had contact with someone who pretended to be an IS leader, but it should instead have been an agent who worked for the Norwegian E-service. Just hours after Oslo was hit by a terrorist attack on the night of 25 June last year, messages from the wanted Norwegian Islamist are said to have arrived: 25 June at 13.08Norwegian wanted Islamist: The 3amaliyah has been completed. Alhamduillah NI = Norwegian wanted Islamist The message was that the “operation” had been completed. Attached to the message was an news article about the shooting at nightclubs in the center of Oslo being investigated as terrorism. Previously, it has come to light how the Norwegian Intelligence Service notified PST even before the shooting took place. The background was information an agent had received in chats, which VG has mentioned, among other things. In one of the chats, the wanted Islamist requested approval for the attack by IS before it happened, on behalf of “brothers” who were to carry it out in Scandinavia. Charged with complicity in terrorism, Zaniar Matapour is said to have shot and killed two people, and injured a number of others by shooting at the issuer. He was then overpowered by civilians and then arrested by the police close to the crime scene. Zaniar Matapour is charged with terrorism after the fatal shooting in Oslo last summer. Photo: Police The attack took place in the middle of Oslo city center the night before the Pride celebrations. Later, others are charged with complicity in terrorism. One of them is the well-known Islamist Arfan Bhatti – he is charged with complicity in serious terrorism. Many had laid flowers outside the London pub the day after the shooting. Photo: Simon Skjelvik Brandseth / news The messages that are said to have passed between the E-service and Islamists now show how the police believe Bhatti is connected to terror. Several media outlets, including VG and Aftenposten, have also reported that Bhatti’s phone number was allegedly found in Matapour’s clothes when he was arrested. Bhatti has been arrested in Pakistan since autumn 2022, and wanted by the Norwegian authorities since September of the same year. Supposed to have mentioned Bhatti in a chat and asked IS to contact him At the moment, the Norwegian authorities are trying to bring Bhatti home to Norway pending the trial against Bhatti, Zaniar Matapour and two other accused. The messages reveal how what the police believe to be Bhatti came into contact with agents for the E-service. The wanted Islamist, who was already in contact with an agent for the E-service, wrote in the hours after the terror to what he thought was an IS leader. The person asked if a “brother” could get in touch with them, and if contact information should be forwarded. 25 June at 16.07Norwegian wanted Islamist: Should i forward you contact? AEAgent for the National Intelligence Service: you can forward me his contact and we will speak with him directly! (…) NI = Norwegian wanted Islamist, AE = Agent for the Intelligence Service The e-service’s agent asked for the contact information. So that the dialogue could be created directly. A username was then shared on the Telegram service. The Islamist wrote that it was the contact information for the “brother”. Later that evening, the Islamist shared information from media reports that the police were hunting for who had provided the attacker with weapons. Then the person must have referred to both Matapour and Bhatti by name. 25 June at 22.54Norwegian wanted Islamist: The brother who did the 3amaliyah is named zanoat matapour, Kurdish from iranZaniar*And the media is wrighting that now that brother was a friend of arfan BhattiArfan tried to come, but got banned The agent for the E-tjesenten then asked about Bhatti is the same as the “brother” they have been asked to contact. The Islamist is said to have confirmed that Bhatti is the “brother”, said that he has not been arrested by the “infidels” yet and that it was urgent to contact him: AEAgent for the National Intelligence Service: He’s the brother you who you told about?Norwegian wanted Islamist: Yes. AEAgent for the Intelligence Service: Subhan Allah! has kuffar arrested him?Norwegian wanted islamist:noNot yetHe is not in NorwayHe traveledBut he also said you should hurry up and contact himSo please, if you can just message him so I don’t need to be the middle person anymore established contact with a person the police now believe is Bhatti. Presented several different terror targets The person thought it was high-ranking leaders in IS who made contact. In reality, he communicated with an agent working on assignment for the Norwegian intelligence service. The two stayed in touch for several weeks after the attack. 4 July 2022 The intelligence agent asks what Bhatti suggests IS does in “infidel” countries. He replies that many IS sympathizers in “unbelieving” countries are too young, have too little experience with intelligence, or are too bad at taking advantage of their network. That is what causes them to be discovered, not that “the infidels” are good at intelligence: 04/07/22 at 23.01DBThe police believe to be Arfan Bhatti: The kuffar there are not that clever, rather it is our mistakes and guard down let them be alert DB = The police believe to be Arfan Bhatti In several messages over several days at the beginning of July, the the police believe Bhatti is several people who can carry out attacks, or “work where there is a need”. He also has proposals for several terrorist targets. Among the targets Bhatti suggests is NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. – We do not comment on matters surrounding Stoltenberg’s security, says the communications department of NATO and Jens Stoltenberg to news. The person the police believe to be Bhatti also tells the agent about the possibilities of kidnapping Norwegian journalists who come to interview him in Pakistan, and the Norwegian embassy in the country, as VG has previously mentioned. Bhatti’s defender: No evidence Arfan Bhatti’s defender John Christian Elden expresses to news that the connection and traces of Bhatti do not hold up as evidence. – There is no evidence that this has anything to do with Bhatti, writes Elden in an e-mail to news. John Christian Elden is Bhatti’s defense attorney. Photo: Marthe Synnøve Johannessen / news John Christian Elden is critical of what emerges in the messages, which must have been given to the police because the other party were agents for the Norwegian Intelligence Service. – The communication raises a number of questions about provocation from what is alleged to be the E-service. This means that the people at the other end must be acquitted, writes Elden. Bhatti’s defense attorney also reacts to the fact that the information is now coming out in the media. – So far, the police have refused me to discuss this with Bhatti by disclosing the case documents to him, while at the same time letting them flow in the media. It is not satisfactory, writes Elden. Didn’t think he could be caught. The other wanted Islamist had already been in contact with the agent in the E-service, and referred to what should be Bhatti. In the week before the attack in Oslo on 25 June, the Islamist told that there would be an attack in one of the Scandinavian countries. VG has previously mentioned this. On 26 June, Bhatti is said to have sent an audio file in which Zaniar Matapour declares allegiance to IS. On the evening after the attack, he demands that IS come out and take responsibility for the attack. He is asked to be patient. He will later also fuss about publishing this in July. They also discuss whether Bhatti should return to Norway, or stay in Pakistan. 26/06/22 at 22.53 The one the police believe is Arfan Bhatti: I can do more when I am on their streets. Just me being in EU is fear for them walhamdulillah What should be Bhatti also says that he doubts that he will be imprisoned for more than a few months for any involvement in the attack. He is told by the agent that it is better if he travels back, but only if it is safe. The person the police believe to be Bhatti does not appear to be afraid of being arrested: 26/06/22 at 22.31DB What the police think is Arfan Bhatti: They can not in shaa Allah establish any connection, besides that the brother who did this is my best friend. But that is already in the media. news has been in contact with the police about the information that appears in the reports. – The police cannot comment on details of the evidence, says police prosecutor Ingvild Myrold in the Oslo police district to news. Requires investigation Many, including Zaniar Matapour’s defender Marius Dietrichson, have been critical of the intelligence agent’s conversations with what are supposed to be two prominent Norwegian Islamists. The defense attorney has long wondered whether provocation has affected his client. – There is perhaps reason to believe that this would not have happened, and in any case not on such a large scale, if it had not been for the involvement of the National Intelligence Service’s agents, Dietrichson has told news previously. There has been advocating for external scrutiny from, among other things, political parties. – The Court will take a position on provocation. The Oslo police respond to the comments from Elden and Dietrichson about possible provocation. – At a main hearing, the court will decide on the defenders’ allegations of provocation, says police lawyer Ingvild Myrold. She says this about the criticism from Bhatti’s defense attorney relating to the fact that the messages have been published in the media – at the same time that the defense attorney is not allowed to discuss the information with his client due to a clause. Police attorney Ingvild Myrold is working on the investigation into the pride shooting in Oslo. Photo: Sverre Holm-Nilsen / news – The police consider it very unfortunate that case information has reached the media, before Bhatti has had the opportunity to give his police statement. It is continuously assessed whether the grounds for clauses are present, says police attorney Myrold. Cannot comment on operational background The Norwegian Intelligence Service has been tight-lipped about how they operated in contact with Islamists and then notified PST. Communications manager in the E-service, Ann-Kristin Bjergene, has previously written in an e-mail to news that she cannot comment on operational matters. – On a general basis, it should be emphasized that we have close counter-terror cooperation with PST where all relevant information is shared, Bjergene wrote. 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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