DW: Norwegian arrested for allegedly spying for China

[Hamartia Antidote]

Norwegian arrested for allegedly spying for China – DW – 07/02/2024

An Oslo court ordered the detention of a Norwegian citizen accused of spying for China. Norway's security agency has previously called China a "significant intelligence threat."

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An Oslo court ordered the detention of a Norwegian citizen accused of spying for China. Norway's security agency has previously called China a "significant intelligence threat."

A Norwegian man was arrested on Monday by the police on espionage charges "that could benefit China," the local Norwegian news agency NTB said, citing Norway's security service.

The authorities have not made the person's identity public. Marius Dietrichson, a lawyer representing the accused, said the man denied spying for Beijing.

The suspect was detained on Monday at Oslo's international airport as he returned from China, Thomas Blom, a spokesman for the service's counterespionage unit, told reporters.

What has the Oslo court decided?​

Following a hearing on Tuesday, the court placed the accused in a four-week pretrial detention.

While in detention, the accused will not be allowed outside communication. The court has ordered him to spend the first two weeks in isolation.

Norway spy suspect pleads not guilty​

"He says he is innocent and that he is not an agent for China," a lawyer working on the case, Dietrichson, told AFP news agency. Dietrichson said he could not provide further details because of the sensitive nature of the accusations against his client.

The security services have not yet revealed the information the suspect might have provided to China.

"We are in a preliminary and extremely sensitive phase," Blom from the service's counterespionage unit told reporters as he left the Oslo court.

China 'a significant intelligence threat'​

The arrest comes as Oslo forecast that Beijing would pose an intelligence threat this year.

"China will be a significant intelligence threat in 2024," an annual threat assesment by the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) said.

The PST's assessment published in February also mentions, "This is due in particular to the deterioration in the relationship between China and the West, China's desire for more control over supply chains, and positioning in the Arctic."

Chinese officials in the past have rejected the various espionage accusations as "hype" meant to discredit China, Reuters said.

 

[KingQamaR]

We act like we west aren’t spying