You are posting a comment about...
Evidence against Nordic terror suspects
Aftenposten and The Local have more news on the recent arrests of the 6 men from Somalia suspected of financing terrorist activities.
The police agency in charge of Norway's national security believes it has secured evidence that three men arrested in Oslo Thursday have been funneling money to finance terrorism in Somalia.
All three suspects come from Somalia and have been linked to the radical group Al Shabab, which in turn has been linked to terrorist activity. Prosecutors claim the suspects have sent money back to Somalia to finance "holy war" against the government that has run the country since Ethiopian forces invaded in 2006.
The three suspects include a 39-year-old man who came to Norway from Somalia's war-torn capital of Mogadishu. He's married, has children, is a practicing Muslim and speaks Norwegian. He has been working in an Internet cafe that was raided by police on Thursday, and was at work when he was arrested.
The other two suspects are a 47-year-old Somalian who has lived in Norway since 1999 but has remained politically active against the sitting government in Somalia, and a 40-year-old man who has been in Norway for a the past few years and operates a "hawala" system of sending payments and transferring money overseas. Such systems are illegal, but often are used even by international organizations that need to get aid funds to underdeveloped countries.
None of the suspects has been identified by name, in accordance with Norwegian press practice. They face custody hearings over the weekend.
In SwedenTwo men, 37 and 42, are to be detained in custody following their arrest on Thursday on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism, a court in Stockholm ruled on Friday.
There were insufficient grounds to seek a formal detention order for the third man arrested in Thursday's coordinated police operation, although suspicions about his involvement in the case remain, according to a statement from the prosecutor’s office. Swedish Security Service Säpo suspect all three men of having links to the Al-Shabaab organization in Somalia. Al-Shabaab, which translates roughly as 'Youth', is an extreme breakaway faction of the Islamic courts in Somalia. The group claimed responsibility for a bombing in early February in the coastal town of Bosasso in Somalia Puntland region.
