Norway’s police intelligence agency (PST) has arrested an engineer at tech firm Aker Solutions and charged him with terrorist activities. The man was detained at the company’s fjordside headquarters at Fornebu, just west of Oslo, on Monday afternoon.
A PST spokesperson confirmed the arrest to newspaper VG, which broke the story.
The spokesperson added that the man had been charged under section 147 C in the Norwegian penal code, which covers several terrorism-related activities including recruiting or training others for acts of terrorism, or encouraging such acts. Police later conducted an extensive search of the suspect’s office at Aker Solutions in connection with the arrest.
During a press briefing later in the afternoon, police prosecutor Signe Aalling said the engineer is suspected of spreading information that could be particularly useful for plotting acts of terrorism. According to her, the police investigation was launched just recently.
According to Aker Solutions’ spokeswoman Bunny Nooryani, Aker’s own investigation had revealed that the employee had violated internal guidelines of the company, and he’d been suspended. She said Aker had informed police, who decided to arrest the man on Monday at the company’s fjordside offices at Fornebu outside Oslo.
It was not immediately clear how the suspect, described as a 49-year-old Norwegian citizen, had responded to the charges against him. Several media reports were circulating on Monday that the engineer was from Iraq but had become a Norwegian citizen. According to newspaper Dagbladet, he had held a “responsible” job at Aker Solutions, which is a key supplier of technology to the oil sector.
The arrest took place just hours after a 24-year-old Pakistani-Norwegian man from Fredrikstad, in southern Norway, was indicted for having unlawful ties to the IS terrorist organisation in Syria.
newsinenglish.no staff
