No fines for minor drug offenses

Norway’s left-center government seems ready to try using “motivational dialogue” with drug users instead of simply issuing fines to those found with relatively minor quantities of narcotics. The users will also be offered “intervention programs” aimed at steering them away from a life of addiction, but opposition politicians aren’t convinced.

Justice Minister Knut Storberget and …

Police bust up open drug-dealing

Nowhere in Europe is drug-dealing on the streets as open as it is in certain parts of Oslo and Bergen. Now politicians and police are mounting an effort to break up the business that goes on in four main areas of the capital, part of a campaign to make Oslo safer this summer.

It’s hard …

Police crack international drug ring

An international drug ring with links to at least 20 countries across several continents  has been uncovered by the Norwegian state police KRIPOS, in cooperation with security services around the world.

Reports in newspaper Aftenposten show that KRIPOS has worked with counterparts in several countries to disrupt the operation of the drug smugglers. The key …

Couple charged with drug smuggling

A couple from Lithuania, operating from a rural home in the small community of Våler southeast of Oslo, have been indicted for organized smuggling of metamphetamines into Norway. Police claim it’s the largest metamphetamine smuggling case in Norwegian history.

Newspaper Aftenposten reports the 25-year-old woman and 33-year-man rented the house in Våler in Østfold County …

New proposals to decriminalize drugs

Justice Minister Knut Storberget is joining the chorus of state officials urging new, perhaps radical means of tackling Norway’s drug problem. Storberget called Friday for a public debate on decriminalizing the use and possession of narcotics.

“We must dare to think of alternatives,” Storberget told newspaper Aftenposten, just days after a government commission headed by …

Free heroin proposal sparks protests

A proposal to use heroin in a controlled setting for attempted rehabilitation of hard-core Norwegian drug abusers was generating plenty of debate on Wednesday. Some politicians equated it to making the problem the solution.

“You don’t give free liquor to alcoholics,” contended Anniken Hauglie, a member of the Oslo city government from the Conservative Party. …

‘Shocking’ lack of prison security

Just weeks after Norway opened one of the fanciest prisons in the world, security seems out of control at an older jail in Oslo. Even one of the country’s most liberal politicians is shocked over reports that prisoners are receiving drugs and mobile phones, tossed over prison walls, and are able to communicate freely …

Big cocaine bust shakes Bergen

Police in Bergen started their long holiday weekend by announcing the city’s biggest cocaine bust ever. In addition to seizing relatively large quantities of the drug, they arrested around 40 people including parents of small children, a day care worker and  even an employee of the state child protective services (barnevernet).

“Several of those we …

Bolivia’s president in town

Bolivian President Evo Morales has been in Oslo this week for meetings with top Norwegian officials, including King Harald. His visit was mostly aimed at talks about oil, gas and the climate, but a court case involving Norwegian defendants also came up.

Morales was well aware of the drug charges against three young Norwegian women …

Mental illness common in murders

Of the 132 murders occurring in Norway during the past five years, fully a third of the murderers showed signs of mental illness. Psychiatric problems played a major role, according to an analysis delivered to the government this week.

The state report studied murders committed in Norway between 2005 and 2009. In addition to showing …

Norwegians sentenced to jail in Bolivia

Two young Norwegian women who were caught with cocaine in their luggage while leaving Bolivia nearly two years ago have been sentenced to 13 years and four months in prison by a Bolivian court. An alleged accomplice was handed a 20-year jail term.

Stina Brendemo Hagen, age 19, burst into tears when her sentence was …

Defendants deny cocaine smuggling

Two Norwegian women on trial in Bolivia continue to deny they had any idea that they were carrying 22 kilos of cocaine in luggage they were taking with them from Bolivia to Norway last year.

Madeleine Rodriguez, 23, and Stina Brendemo, age 19, are charged with attempting to transport drugs along with another young woman …

Norwegians’ trial begins in Bolivia

Three young Norwegian women caught with 22 kilos of cocaine in their luggage are finally getting their day in court in Bolivia. Two of the three remain jailed in Cochabamba, but the third skipped bail and fled to Norway.

Stina Brendemo Hagen, age 19, and Madeleine Rodriguez, age 23, have been held in a women’s …

Bolivia, Morocco angry with Norway

Bolivian officials are furious after a young Norwegian woman, armed with a newly issued Norwegian passport in a new name, fled drug charges and flew home to Norway over the weekend. Morocco’s ambassador to Norway, meanwhile, was also angry this week after two members of Norwegian special forces were cleared of any charges tied …

Norwegian flees drug charges in Bolivia

One of three young Norwegian women, caught with 22 kilos of cocaine while leaving Bolivia two years ago, has skipped bail and made her way back to Norway, reported TV2 over the weekend.

Now Norway’s Foreign Ministry seems caught in the fray once again, after reports emerged Monday that she had received a new passport from …

Next Page »