Norway arrests suspect over attempted spying for China: ‘significant intelligence threat’
- A Norwegian citizen is suspected of serious intelligence activities involving state secrets, according to a local report
Norway’s security service on Tuesday said it arrested a Norwegian man suspected of trying to spy on behalf of China.
The suspect was detained Monday at Oslo’s international airport as he returned from China, Thomas Blom, a spokesman for the service’s counter-espionage unit, told reporters.
An Oslo court placed him in four-week pre-trial detention with a ban on communicating with the outside, and with the first two weeks to be spent in isolation.
A lawyer for the man, whose identity has not been revealed, said he denied the charges against him.
“He says he is innocent and that he is not an agent for China,” said lawyer, Marius Dietrichson.
He said he could not provide further details because of the sensitive nature of the accusations.
If found guilty, the man faces up to 10 years in jail.