KUALA LUMPUR – The 25-year-old Malaysian student who was initially detained by the authorities in Norway for alleged spying activities is now being held on suspicion of a “serious financial crime”.
According to a report by the Associated Press (AP), while the Norwegian authorities have dropped the spying allegations against the Malaysian, its police force stated that the change in charges was due to his alleged use of signal technology to gain information for financial gain.
The student was arrested in Norway on September 8 for illegally eavesdropping by using various technical devices.
The Norwegian authorities then arrested and charged the Malaysian for allegedly spying on its government premises, including the Scandinavian country’s Prime Minister’s Office, its Defence Ministry, and several other government offices in its capital Oslo.
A Norwegian court had ordered the suspect to be held in pre-trial custody for four weeks on suspicion of espionage and intelligence operations against the Nordic country.
Speaking to AP, Marianne Bender, a prosecutor for the Norwegian police’s Economic Crime Department, said the Malaysian “used devices for mobile phone surveillance”, or IMSI-catchers, in an attempt to commit “gross frauds” in the country’s capital, Oslo, and in the city of Bergen, Norway’s second-largest city.
The international mobile subscriber identity, or IMSI, detects cell towers and intercepts signals on phones to spy on calls and messages.
She also described the case as “large and extensive, and probably involves organised crime with international ramifications”.
Following the arrest, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, via the Malaysian Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, confirmed on September 12 that a man believed to be a Malaysian citizen had been arrested in Oslo on suspicion of involvement in espionage. – September 23, 2023