Swedish gangs in Oslo to burgle houses: police

Geir Ellefsen, police superintendent at Oslo's Majorstua Police Station said: "We have seen a development in recent years where more and more criminals are arriving in Norway from Sweden, and it looks like the trend will continue this year as well."

 

The statement came as a gang of four Swedish citizens were arrested on Monday, charged with carrying out four burglaries in Oslo in just one week. 

 

The men were arrested as they left the hotel where they had been staying and a police search of their room discovered items stolen from several different apartments. 

 

Ellefsen said most of the Swedish gang members causing trouble in Norway were well-known to Swedish police, and that their anonymity in Norway, as well as the relative wealth of the country's citizens, was what was luring them across the border. 

 

"They also know well that there is a lot of wealth in Norwegian homes," he said. 

 

Three of the four Swedes arrested are of Somali descent, while the fourth is Iraqi.  Oslo police believe the group committed at lease five of the total 30 burglaries reported in the city in January.