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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

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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