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Georgian asylum seeker gang seized in Norway

A trio of Georgian criminals have been arrested on suspicion of carrying out more than 14 robberies in computer and mobile phone shops across southern Norway.

Published: 30 August 2013 09:26 CEST

Georgian asylum seeker gang seized in Norway

Mobiles phones seized from thieves in the UK - West Midlands Police

The group, two men and one woman, targetted branches of the Expert, Lefdal and Elkjøp chains across southern Norway, beginning their operation almost as soon as they arrived in the country four months ago and applied for asylum.

The group were arrested at Elkjøp in Molde this week, after an analysis of CCTV footage from electronics stores across the country predicted where they were most likely to strike next. The gang had kept moving rapidly between Norwegian police districts, making it more difficult to apprehend them.

A fourth male member was arrested in Oslo in July.

Norwegian police estimate that about one in a hundred asylum seekers are connected with organized crime. A group from Belarus was also active in the country over the summer.

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Norway's immigration authority closes 1,000 cases into suspected cheating

The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) has dismissed more than 1,000 asylum and immigration cases after it had been told to reduce the queue of cases by the Ministry of Justice, public broadcaster NRK reports.

Frode Forfang, director of UDI, told NRK that the UDI chose to close cases where there were suspicions that false information had been provided to prioritise what it considered to be the most pressing and serious cases .

“We were in a situation where a large number of cases were created, but our capacity was not proportionate to the number of cases. This meant that we did not get a good enough grip on the matters that we believe are the most serious. At the same time, it led to a good number of these cases becoming very old,” he said.

“Many people lived in uncertainty for a long time because we did not have the capacity,” he added.

The UDI also decided last year that cases older than three years old would not be reopened, according to the report from NRK.

Figures from the UDI provided to the broadcaster show that 78 people have been deported from Norway due to false information submitted with their asylum cases over the past six years.

In recent years, the rules for deporting those who have provided false information in asylum applications have been softened.

Over the last six years, nearly 900 people in Norway have received a new residence permit after their original one was withdrawn after the UDI had uncovered falsehoods in the original applications.

Forfang said it was important for the UDI to focus on cases where the applicant would likely be deported.

“We think that it is more important to work on those cases where we believe that the person in question may end up having to leave Norway, rather than those cases where the person in question will anyway be allowed to stay in Norway through a new permit,” Forfang said.

The UDI has previously told The Local that it had its budget cut. The directorate warned that this could mean longer waiting times for residence, asylum and citizenship in Norway.

“These budget cuts will reduce the UDI’s ability to process cases and respond to inquiries efficiently. A decrease in capacity to process cases may lead to extended waiting times for residency and citizenship applications, although this will also depend on the volume of cases received,” Beate Sveen, the UDI’s Director of Finance, told The Local last month.

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