KUALA LUMPUR — Norwegian authorities have arrested and charged a 25-year-old Malaysian for allegedly spying on its government premises including the Scandinavian country’s Prime Minister’s Office, its defence ministry and several other government offices in its capital Oslo.
According to a report by Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK), yesterday, citing Norwegian’s intelligence agency PST, the suspect who claims to be a student, allegedly drove around or parked near these premises using a rental car and allegedly tried tapping into the government’s electronic communications.
Additionally, the country’s lower court ordered the suspect to be held in custody for at least one month while investigations are ongoing. The 25-year-old suspect will be kept in isolation for the first two weeks.
“We face quite an extensive investigation and have just begun.
“We’re not sure what we’re up against.
“There’s such danger of tampering with evidence that we’re being very careful with what we can reveal right now,” Norwegian state prosecutor Thomas Fredrik Blom was quoted as saying, adding that there’s a “real and high” danger of tampering with evidence, so much so that isolating the suspect was deemed necessary.
Among the concerns by the NRK include the possibility of the suspect’s intention to communicate with others involved in the alleged espionage, requiring them “to secure several technical items without the man interfering” with the investigation.
NRK reported that court papers reveal how police think the young man would want to communicate with others involved in the alleged espionage. Police therefore need “to secure several technical items without the man interfering” with the investigation.
“There’s such danger of tampering with evidence that we’re being very careful with what we can reveal right now,” Blom said.
The suspect was arrested on Friday night by the PST, following his rental car’s movements which were picked up by surveillance cameras installed throughout the government’s premises which he allegedly targeted.
The report also indicated that the suspect was charged with signaletterretning from the vehicle, a Norwegian term for tapping into electronic devices from weapons and tracking devices.
Quoting another Norwegian daily, Aftenposten, the suspect and his vehicle fell under PST’s own watch list prior to the arrest.
Despite claiming to be a student, the suspect is not tied to any education institution in Norway, in addition to not being in the country for a long period of time.
PST had expressed concern that the suspect would flee back to Malaysia as there is an extradition treaty between both countries.
Despite the arrest, PST believes that Malaysian authorities are not behind the suspect’s activities suggesting that he may hold more than one passport.
PST officials stressed that they do not believe authorities in Malaysia are behind the man’s alleged spying, suggesting he held a passport of convenience.
The suspect has since refused to answer questions, with his lawyer Aase Karine Sigmond saying that her client was “simply too shaken up” following the “dramatic arrest”. — September 12,2023
