It is indeed the afternoon of Friday, september 26.
in the car park outside Ikea Furuset, east of Oslo, one is waiting civilian police officer.
Three days earlier, two hand grenades were thrown at a beauty salon in Pilestredet. Two 13-year-olds are suspected of being behind the attack.
The police had to cover one of the grenades that was thrown, because it did not go off. The other exploded next to a beauty salon.
Photo: terje Pedersen / NTB
now the police have information that a new attack is planned, this time in Sarpsborg. They have infiltrated an online forum where children are recruited for violent missions.
By pretending to be someone else, digital police detectives try to take on these jobs before children and teenagers do.
A digital operative at the Oslo Police District monitors an online forum.
Photo: Oslo Police District
hand Grenades Delivered at Ikea Parking Lot – Targeted at Commercial Building
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Around Ikea Furuset, police were in close pursuit. They observed a car entering the parking lot, allegedly driven by a previously unpunished 31-year-old man. Police believe this individual acted as an intermediary, dispatched by the person communicating with digital spies online.
According to police inspector Frode Larsen, a civilian officer approached the man and received two hand grenades. The intended target,as indicated by the order,was a commercial building in Sarpsborg.
Following the handover, police followed the 31-year-old and apprehended him near the center of Oslo. The man denies any wrongdoing.
Digital detectives Monitor Online Violence in Oslo
digital scouts now sit in a separate room at the Greenland police station and monitor the assignments that are posted. They are published on social media such as Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat. Kripos has a corresponding room with digital scanners.
Since the autumn of 2024, kripos has worked systematically to identify acts of violence that are posted on digital platforms.Follow-up of the specific assignments is done in cl
Norwegian police are investigating after advertisements for violent missions appeared on social media, offering payment for carrying out attacks.
The advertisements, seen on platforms like Snapchat and Instagram, explicitly called for individuals to commit violent acts against specific targets. Screenshots shared with NRK show messages offering financial compensation for assaults and other criminal activities.
“This is a very serious matter,” says police attorney Anja Meinhof. “We are taking this very seriously and are working to identify those responsible for posting these messages, as well as anyone who may have responded to them.”
The police are urging anyone who has seen similar advertisements or has information about the case to come forward. They are also warning individuals against engaging with such messages, emphasizing the severe legal consequences of participating in violent crimes.
the investigation is ongoing, and authorities are working to determine the extent of the operation and the potential threat to public safety. The source of the advertisements and the identities of those behind them remain unknown at this time.
Photo: Tom Balgaard / NRK
Police are increasingly encountering what they call “digital spies” – individuals online who attempt to recruit and manipulate young people into carrying out violent acts. It seems these individuals pose as peers, building trust before suggesting missions of violence, all in an effort to prevent actual attacks.
The planning then continues in closed and encrypted chat groups that police can’t access. This makes it extremely difficult for us to uncover and stop these types of missions, says police official Larsen.
As NRK previously reported, swedish police have used similar methods to prevent murders in Norway.
Expect Explosions
The police aren’t sharing exactly how many violent acts they’ve prevented in the last year, but they confirm there have been more than a few. One attack they couldn’t stop was the grenade throwing in Pilestredet. The police now confirm to NRK they knew an attack was possible.
“We had received some information about a violent mission happening online, and we were working on it. But we didn’t know where or who would carry it out,” Larsen explains.