PST awaits the situation – still likely with terrorist attack attempts in Norway
PST does not currently change the threat picture in Norway. The assessment that it is likely that someone will attempt to conduct a terrorist attack in Norway continue to apply.
– We are following the situation in London and England very closely now, but it is too early to say whether what has happened will change our assessment of the threat picture in Norway, says Trond Hugubakken to NTB. He is communications director in the Police Security Service (PST)
– There is now a comprehensive investigation in the UK that is still in its initial phase. It will take some time before British police clarify the identity of those who carried out the attack and how the attackers may be connected, says Hugubakken.
High threat level
He says PST now collects all information and is in close dialogue with partners internationally to get a good basis for assessing the threat picture in Norway.
– But we are already at a relatively high level. The threat level from April, when we considered it likely that an attempted terrorist attack in Norway could be imminent. Parts of the anti-terror planning is activated in cooperation between PST and the police, says Hugubakken.
He says the experience has shown that it takes a day or two after a terrorist act before Norwegian police have enough information that they can make an assessment of the threat. PST upgraded the threat level after the terrorist attack in Stockholm on April 7 for a period of two months.
While PST before the Stockholm attack considered it “possible” that Norway could be exposed to terror in 2017, PST chief Benedicte Bjørnland announced on May 9 that recent developments have created a number of uncertainties that lead to the assessment being upgraded to “likely”.
Unchanged in Denmark and Finland
Currently, the threat level is also maintained in Denmark and Finland at the same level as before the attack.
– We have an elevated preparedness, but that we have had for a while, says duty officer Henrik Brix at the Copenhagen police to Ritzau.
The Danish Security Police PET has so far not commented on the matter.
In Finland, the security police said after the attack in Manchester that the threat level from November will remain. In this assessment, it is stated that there is an increased risk of attacks by terrorists acting on their own.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
