Hans Sverre Sjøvold, the chief of Norway’s Police Security Service, says there is no doubt that the killings at Kongsberg appear to be a possible terrorist act.
At a press conference outside the Police Security Service’s (PST) head office in Oslo, Sjøvold said that PST is actively working on the case.
“We’re assisting the Southeastern Police District with what we can when it comes to information. Of course, we are also working to find out if this can inspire others to commit similar actions,” Sjøvold said.
He added that it was important for the investigation to go ahead. For the time being, PST’s role is to assist the Southeastern Police District, which is responsible for the investigation.
Satisfied with the assessments
Sjøvold believes that PST has made good and correct assessments of the accused man, Espen Andersen Bråthen, before.
“I understand well that the question comes up,” he added.
Head of the counterterrorism section Arne Christian Haugstøyl adds that it is difficult to detect attacks like this.
“There is one perpetrator. Experience indicates that there is a short planning horizon, and he has used simple means and weapons. Such cases are very difficult for a security service to detect,” Haugstøyl said.
Points to mental health
Sjøvold confirmed that Bråthen is known to the PST from earlier but also pointed out that the accused will now undergo a preliminary observation with a view to obtaining a professional assessment of his sanity.
“This is a person who has been in and out of the health service for a while,” Sjøvold added.
“We knew the person in question,” section leader Arne Christian Haugstøyl in the PST noted.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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I don’t accept Norways Security Forces saying that it is difficult to detect violence such as that of Kongsberg. The police were earlier told that Espen is a dangerous person and lives could be lost. But nobody heeded to his report. The police never told the PST about the report. In Europe in general, I see that the government’s are not doing enough to combat terrorists because they put too much weight on democracy. But denying democracy to terrorists and criminals who can kill people anytime is not a crime.