Police in Oslo arrested and charged 18 people on Tuesday in connection with drug dealing in residential areas. Police said those charged had “cynically exploited” children and youth under age 18, even their own.
“Some mothers have had small children with them when they bought hash,” Kåre Stølen, chief of the Grønland Police Station in Oslo, told reporters at a press conference announcing the crackdown. “Some children were used to sell narcotics, others to buy. What’s sad is that they sometimes had their parents with them.”
A total of 18 people were arrested and around 30 addresses raided during the police operation. Three of those arrested were under the age of 18.
The goal was to crack down on open street sales of cannabis in and around the neighbourhoods of Tøyen, Kampen and Ensjø in Oslo. Stølen described the action as one of the largest of its kind in the capital in many years.
Residents of the areas said they were relieved the police took action against the drug trade on the streets. “We’ve been in contact with the police several times and are very grateful,” one resident told newspaper Aftenposten on Wednesday.
newsinenglish.no staff
