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Norway man uses wheelbarrow as robbery vehicle, gets arrested

A 22-year-old man wearing a balaclava and carrying a knife has been arrested on suspicion of multiple break-ins in the town of Langesund in Telemark County.

Published: 5 July 2017 13:02 CEST

Norway man uses wheelbarrow as robbery vehicle, gets arrested

Photo: nata-sabyna/Depositphotos

The man was stopped with a wheelbarrow full of stolen goods, reports news agency NTB.

Police received reports just after 3am Wednesday of a man transporting stolen goods in a wheelbarrow, according to the report.

Prior to this, just after midnight, a resident in the town encountered a thief in his home after being woken by noises from inside the house.

The thief, who was wearing a balaclava and holding a knife, fled after being disturbed, reports NTB.

“It is not normal to wander around with a wheelbarrow containing both a chainsaw and hedge trimmer at three at night, so we were tipped off,” operation leader Vidar Aaltvedt of Police District South East told NTB.

The 22-year-old was arrested at around 3am and will be interviewed by police on Wednesday.

Stolen goods found in the wheelbarrow were primarily gardening equipment stolen from sheds or garages, but other goods were also found by police, according to the report.

“Even though he didn’t use the knife, he didn’t take it inside the house for nothing,” Aaltvedt told NTB.

Police were on Wednesday morning unable to confirm how many properties had been broken into and are working on finding the owners of the stolen goods.

Residents in the area have been advised to check their property.

Aaltvedt noted that some time passed between the first sighting of the man and his arrest.

“He may have carried out several break-ins and left goods in other places,” he said.

The 22-year-old is known to police and has previously committed other break-ins.

READ ALSO: Burglars in Norway steal horses' tails

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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