cross-posted from: https://nrsk.no/post/111991

Russians caught with two drones at Storskog

A Russian has been arrested and detained for filming with a drone in Norway. The police in Finnmark are asking for two weeks’ detention for the arrested person.

The police will review large quantities of seized films. The charge may be extended.

“He was stopped at Storskog on 11 October on his way out of Norway. It was a normal check by the customs and police where they discovered drones in his luggage”, says police attorney Anja Mikkelsen Indbjør to NRK.

This afternoon, the police’s request for custody was processed in the Indre- and Østre-Finnmark district court in Vadsø.

The court will issue its decision on Thursday evening or Friday, reports NRK.

The Russian citizen is charged with breaching the Sanctions Act and the Sanctions Regulations.

It came into force after Russia went to war against Ukraine, and states that Russian companies or citizens are not allowed to fly in Norway.

According to NRK, the charge may be expanded and PST involved in the case.

(ColdHotman: PST is Politiets Sikkerhetstjeneste, the Police Security Service, tasked with internal security like anti-terrorism, secret surveilance etc.)

Will not be released

The police inform NRK that the man was stopped with two drones and several electronic storage devices.

The man’s defender says that the Russian man will not be released from custody, regardless of whether he is requested to be released or not in the district court.

“If he is released, the prosecution has requested that he be kept in custody until the Court of Appeal has heard the appeal. Pretrial detention is a priority matter”, says defense attorney Jens Bernhard Herstad.

VG has not been in contact with Herstad on Thursday evening.

More observations

This autumn there have been several unconfirmed sightings of drones within the safety zone of platforms on the Norwegian continental shelf.

This has happened both before and after the explosions at Nordstream 1 and 2.

The Norwegian Defense Forces have increased preparedness around the platforms. VG has previously reported that the police have also deployed their drone sensor system to identify any drones.


Translated from VG using Google Translate