A Norwegian student was arrested on charges of spying for the USA on behalf of Russia

in OSLO – Officials in Norway said that a Norwegian student in his 20s was arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia and Iran while working as a security guard at the US Embassy in Oslo.

It was decided to keep the unidentified man in custody for four weeks. He is a dual Norwegian citizen and runs a joint security company with an unnamed eastern European country, according to Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.

Oslo police said they would review the company’s business license on Friday.

The man was detained in the garage of his home on Wednesday on suspicion of harming national security through his intelligence-related activities, Norway’s domestic intelligence agency PST said in a statement on Thursday night.

The arrest warrant from the district court says, among other things, that the police found recordings of the man’s on-duty dialogue with a person who clearly directed his espionage activity, according to NRK.

According to NRK, the court decision states that the man admitted to collecting and sharing information with Russian and Iranian officials.

PST spokesman Thomas Blom said at a news conference Thursday night that it was too early to talk about details about the man’s activities. PST confirmed that the man worked as a security guard at the US Embassy in Oslo. There are no other suspects in the case at this time.

The suspect’s lawyer, John Christian Elden, told NRK that the man admitted to working for a foreign country but did not plead guilty to espionage.

“He is accused of obtaining information that could harm the security situation of third countries,” Elden said.

It emerged on Friday that the man was studying for a bachelor’s degree in security and preparedness at UiT, the Arctic University of Norway.

According to NRK, this is the second case at UiT in recent years.

One of the people the West traded with Russia big prisoner exchange In August, there was a UiT guest researcher named José Assis Giammaria who claimed to be Brazilian and was arrested in 2022 over allegations of espionage. Police identified him as Russian Mikhail Valeryevich Mikushin.

Norway has a 198-kilometer (123 mi) long border with Russia in the Arctic. Since Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Norway has heavily restricted the entry of Russian citizens.

In September, the Norwegian government announced it was considering a plan. build a fence Along all or part of its border with Russia.