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 and [...]

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 the [...]

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. “And [...]

‘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 with [...]

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 have [...]

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 who [...]

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 that [...]

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 read [...]

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 who [...]

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 prison [...]

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 to [...]

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 local [...]

Police uncover huge narcotics stash

Even police with years of experience in narcotics seizures say they’re amazed by the vast quantities of drugs they’ve recently found stored in Oslo. An intense search for those behind the drugs flowing into Norway has led to the discovery of more than 10 storage sites around the capital and several arrests.
Raids on suspected storage [...]

Norway tops in narcotics seizures

No other country in Europe has seized more quantities of methamphetamines than Norway, according to a new study. Drugs of all kinds continue to flow into the country, but seizures indicate that Norway has emerged as one of the largest markets for methamphetamines in the region, and the number of people trying to get off [...]

Police crack drug-smuggling ring

Police in Østfold County, southeast of Oslo, have charged 12 persons in connection with a major narcotics operation believed to have smuggled several hundred kilos of amphetamines into Norway. Three of those charged are Norwegians, eight are from Lithuania and one is from Latvia.

Police said they were able to crack the drug-smuggling ring after receiving [...]

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