UPDATED: Norway’s police intelligence agency PST has confirmed the arrest of a Chinese woman suspected of espionage tied to satellite launching on the northern island of Andøya. Several others have been charged as well for alleged efforts to gain access to state secrets.
Prosecutor Thomas Blom at PST (Politiets sikkerhetstjeneste) told newspaper Aftenposten that those charged are suspected of using a Norwegian-registered company as a cover for a Chinese state agency’s attempts to establish a receiver to download information from satellites. Gathering such data “can damage fundamental Norwegian interests” if the information from it “is made known to a foreign state,” Blom said.
PST and police in Nordland County have seized the suspect satellite receiver and halted plans to put it into operation. Police later won court approval to hold the Chinese woman in police custody for at least four weeks while their investigation continues. At least two other suspects are believed to be in China.
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) has since reported that the suspected satellite receiver was seized in a container at the Port of Oslo and weighs 22 tons. PST suspects it was meant to be transported and used on Andøya. The company due to take over the receiver, and now also charged in the case, claims it was meant to be used to collect weather data in connection with fishing for krill that would be used in health care products.
PST rejects that, on the grounds the receiver was too powerful for such an assignment, and that krill fishing is not allowed in the Arctic. “They’d be at the wrong pole,” Blom told reporters on Friday, since commercial krill fishing is carried out in the seas around the Antarctic, not the Arctic.
Aftenposten and newspaper VG have reported that two locations in Norway, one on the island of Andøya in Nordland and another at Otta in the county of Innlandet, have been ransacked. Andoya is the home of the Andøya Spaceport, which has become one of Europe’s most important launch sites for missile testing and rockets used in research. It also has an agreement with the US to launch American satellites.
Andøya has long been a base for military activity and weapons testing, and plays an important new role in NATO operations. Both PST and the Nordland Police District have warned about spying activity in the area that’s also popular with tourists because of its stunning mountain- and coastal scenery.
Officials at Andøya Space told Aftenposten they hadn’t been made aware of either the police investigation or the arrests until PST announced them publicly on Thursday. Andøya Space chief Ketil Olsen said interest in its launch site has risen in recent years, especially in connection with the increase in defense activity, but claimed it “wouldn’t be natural” for the organization to be alerted to police surveillance or other action.
“We know we are popular,” Olsen said, not least with tourists “or perhaps people camouflaged as tourists.” He claimed Andøya Space has prepared for attempts to gain information by strengthening its security division, making employees aware of the espionage threat and boosting cyber security.
Andøya Mayor Kjell-Are Johansen praised PST for uncovering the threats that it has. “It makes me comfortable to know that we have a security service like PST that’s so wide-awake and uncovers such incidents,” Johansen told Aftenposten.
He also said he wasn’t surprised by the alleged espionage attempt. He noted that the area’s military base and launch site “make us potentially more attractive for this type of unwanted activity.”
NRK reported early on Friday that its correspondent in China hadn’t seen or heard any news reports on Chinese media of the arrest of a suspected Chinese spy in Norway. Later in the day, however, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry said the ministry had no details of the case and rejected “baseless and malicious complaints.” He also expected that the woman’s legal rights would be respected. She’s reportedly in her 20s and has expressed dismay over the charges against her.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
