OSLO, Norway (AP) – Norwegian authorities say a Norwegian student in his 20s who worked as a security guard at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo has been arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia and Iran.
The man, who has not been identified, was ordered to be detained for four weeks. According to Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, he runs a security company with a dual citizen of Norway and an unspecified Eastern European country.
Oslo police announced on Friday that they would review the company's business license.
Norway's domestic intelligence agency PST announced Thursday night that a man was arrested in his garage on Wednesday on suspicion of damaging national security through intelligence-related activities.
According to NRK, the arrest warrant from the district court states, among other things, that during the man's assignment, police found records of conversations he had with a person who was apparently directing the espionage operation.
According to the court order, the man admitted to collecting and sharing the information with Russian and Iranian authorities, according to NRK.
PST spokesman Thomas Blom said at a news conference Thursday night that it was too early to discuss details of the man's activities. PST confirmed that the man was employed as a security guard at the US Embassy in Oslo. There are no other suspects in this case at this time.
The suspect's lawyer, John Christian Elden, told NRK that the man admitted to working abroad but was not guilty of espionage.
“He is charged with obtaining information that could undermine the security situation of a third country,” Elden said.
It was revealed on Friday that the man is studying for a bachelor's degree in security and preparedness at Norway's Arctic University UiT.
According to NRK, this is the second such case at UiT in recent years.
One of the people Western countries exchanged with Russia in a major prisoner swap in August was a UiT visiting researcher who identified himself as a Brazilian named José Assis Giamaria, who was arrested on suspicion of espionage in 2022. Police identified him as Russian Mikhail Valeryevich Mikusin. .
Norway has a 198 km border with Russia in the North Pole. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Norway has strictly restricted the entry of Russian nationals.
Norway's government announced in September that it was considering plans to build a fence along all or part of its border with Russia.
