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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.

SPORT

Norwegian police charge Olympic champion’s father for domestic violence

Norwegian police said Monday that Gjert Ingebrigtsen, father and former coach of 1,500m Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, had been charged with domestic violence against a family member.

Published: 29 April 2024 16:41 CEST
Norwegian police charge Olympic champion's father for domestic violence

Jakob Ingebrigtsen and two of his brothers, Henrik and Filip, who are also athletes, shocked Norway last October when they accused their father of being violent.

“We grew up with a very aggressive and authoritarian father, who used physical violence and threats as part of his upbringing,” the brothers wrote in an op-ed for newspaper VG. “We still feel a sense of discomfort and fear that we have felt since childhood,” they added.

Police opened a probe into the abuse claims and on Monday said prosecutors had decided to charge Gjert Ingebrigtsen, 58, with domestic violence against one of his children.

According to a source close to the case, the acts in question do not concern the trio of known athletes but another, younger child.

Over a period of four years, from 2018 to 2022, Gjert Ingebrigtsen allegedly manhandled, insulted, threatened and hit the child in the face with his hand or with a towel.

Responding to questions from AFP, Therese Braut Vage, who led the investigation, would not confirm this account.

Police said they had closed investigations into other events concerning the six other children in the home either due to a lack of evidence or, in one case, because the statute of limitations having expired.

Gjert, who coached Jakob until after the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo — where Jakob won the gold — has always denied the accusations against him.

“As far as the dismissed cases, we agree that there is no evidence to prove that Ingebrigtsen committed any wrongdoing,” his lawyer John Christian Elden told AFP on Monday.

“For the rest, Ingebrigtsen disputes the description of the facts on which the indictment is based — and he therefore does not admit his guilt,” he continued in an email.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen is the most successful of the three brothers, twice winning gold in the world championships 5000m in 2022 and 2023, as well as the Olympic 1500m gold.

The 23-year-old is also preparing for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.

Henrik, 33, and Filip, 31, were European champions in the 1500m in 2012 and 2016 respectively.

After breaking with his sons, Gjert Ingebrigtsen shocked Norwegian athletics by becoming the trainer of another runner, Narve Gilje Nordas.

The Norwegian Olympic Committee has said that Gjert will not be granted accreditation for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer, as was the case at last year’s World Athletics Championships.

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