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CRIME

Norway arrests 40 young people in organised crime raid

Police have arrested dozens of people, mostly between the ages of 16-20, in a series of raids on schools and homes near Oslo.

Published: 29 March 2017 18:12 CEST
Norway arrests 40 young people in organised crime raid
File photo: Gorm Kallestad/NTB scanpix

The youths arrested in the raids are suspected of being involved in illegal narcotics sales linked to organised crime in Oslo, reports NRK.

The arrests took place in the Follo region, which is part of the Akershus county to the south and east of the Norwegian capital.

Dealing and using drugs, extortion, violence, threatening behaviour and young women trading prostitution for drugs are among the activities connected to the arrests.

“Over time we have received a number of concerned reports from parents, schools and people who work with youths. This has led us to take action in this area,” chief inspector Lars Abelsen of the Øst police district told NRK.

Police have been monitoring groups in the area for up to two years in order to form an overview of their hierarchy before making arrests, according to the broadcaster’s report.

The arrests were made during Tuesday and Wednesday with some 40 people from a police list of up to 50 names taken in for questioning.

The majority of the individuals are between 16 and 20 years old and from various social backgrounds.

Arrests were made at private homes and schools across Follo as well as in Oslo.

Abelsen told NRK that the raids were primarily concerned with dealing and using narcotics including cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy and MDMA, but that there was also an increasing trend for threats and violence in the monitored groups.

“It is often connected to someone that has sold drugs and owes money, and ends up with a debt to some of the heavier gangs. You are fined when you can’t pay and it ends in a negative spiral. What we then see is that these gangs make threats and occasionally go through with their threats to show what they are capable of,” he said.

The police officer said that, on occasions, hardened criminals had knocked on the doors of family homes to make threats.

“We know that many of the people in these youth groups are scared of the criminal groups in Oslo,” he said.

Some of the arrested youths will be charged while others will be monitored by the Norwegian child protection service Barnevernet and other agencies, police told NRK. The raids are expected to continue for the next few days.

CRIME

Norway’s ex-biathlon boss jailed for three years for corruption

A Norwegian court on Friday sentenced a former international biathlon boss to prison for three years and one month for accepting bribes, primarily from Russian officials, including luxury watches, prostitutes and hunting trips.

Published: 12 April 2024 16:53 CEST
Norway's ex-biathlon boss jailed for three years for corruption

Norwegian Anders Besseberg, the 78-year-old head of the International Biathlon Union from 1993 to 2018, was found guilty of nine of 10 counts of aggravated corruption during the period 2009-2018, charges he denied.

“I am of course disappointed and surprised about the verdict and some of the judges’ reasoning. I am appealing on the spot,” Besseberg told the court after the judge read out the 67-page verdict over the course of almost three hours.

“The defendant breached the trust that came with his position at the IBU by accepting the benefits,” judge Vidar Toftoy-Lohne at the Buskerud district court said.

The prosecution hailed the verdict.

“There is a lot of money in circulation in international elite sport. The federations manage substantial financial assets and make decisions that are important for both athletes and the business community,” prosecutor Marianne Djupesland said in a statement.

“We hope this verdict can contribute to raising awareness and that it will have a preventive effect,” she said.

Prosecutors had sought a jail term of three years and seven months and a fine of one million kroner ($95,000).

The court did not hand down a fine, but ordered Besseberg to return gifts amounting to 1.4 million kroner.

Besseberg admitted accepting gifts but dismissed the notion that corruption was involved.

“Even if I received expensive gifts and was invited by many to go hunting, I must stress that I never let myself be corrupted,” he told the court during his trial, media reported.

Russian shadow

As head of the IBU when the Russian doping scandal exploded in the 2010s, Besseberg was accused of initially hiding cases of Russian doping in his sport in exchange for favours.

Prosecutors dropped that line of attack, but in Norway, receiving improper favours, even if no services are provided in exchange, is enough to constitute corruption.

Russia’s shadow nonetheless hung heavily over the case.

According to an inquiry launched by Sweden’s Olle Dahlin, who succeeded Besseberg as head of the IBU, Besseberg pushed to hold the 2021 biathlon world championships in Tyumen, Siberia, despite the Russian doping scandals.

The contest was eventually awarded to Pokljuka in Slovenia.

Prosecutors argued that Besseberg went on fully paid hunting trips in Austria and in the Czech Republic, and for seven years drove a leased BMW X5, all paid for by Infront, a marketing company that held television rights to the sport.

They argued he was given three watches worth a total of more than 30,000 euros ($33,000), invited on trips to hunt deer and wild boar, and offered services from sex workers, all paid for by Russian officials.

Asked about an Omega watch worth more than 17,000 euros he received in 2011 for his 65th birthday, he said: “I did not think it was undeserved.”

The court said two of the three watches he received constituted corruption.

Besseberg also denied any contact with sex workers, acknowledging only what he said was a consensual affair with a 42-year-old Russian.

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