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CRIME

Police find millions of kroner buried in woods

Police in south-eastern Norway have found millions of kroner buried in the woods almost a year after four masked robbers intercepted a cash transport vehicle near Skedsmo.

Police find millions of kroner buried in woods
Photo: Politiet

The thieves made off with some ten million kroner ($1.7 million) in the cash-in-transit heist last October, almost half of which has now been recovered, newspaper Romerikes Blad reports.

Four investigators from the Romerike police district recently accompanied one of the men charged in connection with the robbery to a remote part of a forest in Østfold County.

There he showed the officers where the cash was hidden. Divided up in small plastic bags, tin foil, compost bags, and plastic buckets, the loot had all been put into a black bin bag and buried in the woods.

“Our aim has always been to find the money,” prosecutor Bjørn Erik Pettersen told the newspaper.

“We know from previous robberies that the loot is often reinvested in new criminality, which is why the hunt for the money has been important.”

Police have long known that much of the cash in the Skedsmo raid remained unspent but did not know where it had been stashed.

“We also know that parts of the booty have been invested or used up,” said Pettersen.

Seven people have so far been charged in the case. Alongside the four suspected robbers, a further accomplice and two of the Nokas security guards travelling in the cash transport van have also been indicted.

Several of the suspects have admitted to involvement in the raid.

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OSLO

Norwegian prosecutor wants maximum sentence for Oslo Pride shooter

Norway's public prosecutor on Tuesday asked that the maximum penalty of potentially life behind bars be handed down to the alleged perpetrator of the fatal shooting at Oslo's 2022 Pride festival.

Norwegian prosecutor wants maximum sentence for Oslo Pride shooter

Zaniar Matapour, a 44-year-old Norwegian of Iranian origin, has been on trial since mid-March and is accused of an “aggravated act of terror”.

Matapour is accused of opening fire outside two bars in central Oslo, including the gay club London Pub, on the night of June 25th, just hours before the Oslo Pride Parade was to be held.

Two men, aged 54 and 60, were killed and nine others were wounded.

“There is no reason as to why the maximum sentence cannot be used in a case like this,” prosecutor Aud Kinsarvik Gravas said.

The maximum sentence is 30 years but can be extended indefinitely.

“He has shown no remorse or reflection. We have seen no change in him” over the last two years, Kinsarvik Gravas said.

Matapour, who was restrained by passersby after the shooting, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and has never revealed his motives. He pleaded not guilty.

Psychiatric experts have been divided over his mental health, and thereby his legal responsibility, but the public prosecutor deemed him criminally responsible at the time of the events and that he deliberately targeted the gay community.

The sentence sought against him, which includes a minimum of 20 years, would in practice keep him in detention for as long as he is deemed a danger to society.

The alleged mastermind behind the attack, Arfan Bhatti, a 46-year-old Islamist well-known in Norway, was extradited on May 3rd from Pakistan, where he had taken up residence before the shooting.

He will be tried at a later date.

The final part of the trial, due to last until Thursday, will be devoted to the defence case.

A verdict is not expected for several weeks.

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