Norwegian police have arrested another Russian citizen after he was seen taking photos at Tromsø Airport. The 51-year-old Russian man had a lot of photo equipment, including a drone.
The man was arrested on Friday morning after a tip-off from an employee of Avinor, which operates Norway's airports. Norwegian police have seized the man's photo equipment, a drone and several memory cards.
Police say the suspect has admitted to flying a drone in Norway. The interrogation of the man and the examination of his belongings are now continuing.
- Of the seized items that we have reviewed, we have seen, among other things, pictures of the airport in Kirkenes and pictures of the military's Bell helicopter, says police attorney Jacob Bergh.
- He says that the photo equipment was for private purposes, adds Bergh, who does not want to go into further detail about the man's explanation.
The Police Security Service (PST) has entered the case, says the police attorney. The arrested person was remanded in custody for two weeks on Saturday morning. The police had requested that he be remanded in custody for four weeks.
The man's defense attorney, Ola Larsen, says that the man has argued that he should be released. It is not forbidden for Russians or others to film or take photos at airports in Norway.
But since the war in Ukraine broke out in February, Russians have been prohibited from flying aircraft or drones in Norway, writes the online newspaper VG.
Second Russian with drone arrested in a few days
When asked by the newspaper whether the danger of espionage or sabotage is a relevant issue in this case, Jacob Bergh replied:
- That is the background to the flight ban. It is relevant, yes. But we have nothing concrete in this case. It is too early to say.
The 51-year-old Russian is not resident in Norway. He explained that he traveled through Storskog on Thursday and was on his way to Svalbard in northern Norway. Storskog is a border crossing on the Norwegian-Russian border. It is located in northeastern Norway.
This is the second time in a few days that a Russian citizen has been arrested by Norwegian police for using a drone in Norway.
On Tuesday, another Russian man was stopped at Storskog as he was on his way to leave Norway. He had two drones and several electronic storage devices. He was remanded in custody for two weeks on Friday.
Police lawyer Bergh says that the police do not currently see any connection between the two arrests.
Drones have also been spotted several times in Denmark near Danish oil and gas fields.
/ritzau/NTB
Text, graphics, images, sound, and other content on this website are protected under copyright law. DK Medier reserves all rights to the content, including the right to exploit the content for the purpose of text and data mining, cf. Section 11b of the Copyright Act and Article 4 of the DSM Directive.
Customers with IP agreements/major customer agreements may only share Danish Offshore Industry articles internally for the purpose of handling specific cases. Sharing in connection with specific cases refers to journaling, archiving, or similar uses.
Customers with a personal subscription/login may not share Danish Offshore Industry articles with individuals who do not themselves have a personal subscription to Danish Offshore Industry.
Any deviation from the above requires written consent from DK Medier.
