– The payment for his kidnapping was to be 100,000 euros.
Feyyaz Øzturk states this to Dagbladet. It’s been a month since the man who claims to be a former Turkish agent, was in force in Norway. There, for two days, he was interrogated for nearly ten hours about the information he claims to have in the Lørenskog case.
It has been more than four years since Anne-Elisabeth Hagen disappeared from her home in Fjellhamar. Along the way, the police went from their primary assumption of kidnapping to believing they were faced with a homicide, trying to disguise it as a kidnapping. Four men have been charged in the case, including Anne-Elisabeth’s husband and billionaire Tom Hagen. For almost three years he has been accused of murder or complicity in it.
But the information provided by Øzturk points in a completely different direction.
– Business as usual
You want justice
Confronted with Dagbladet, he repeats several details he claims he received from people who were central to what was supposed to be a kidnapping of then 68-year-old Anne-Elisabeth Hagen. The details of the payment, the kidnapping itself, the names of the people involved, the descriptions of the people, and what could have gone wrong during her disappearance.
Dagbladet has chosen not to reproduce the information, as it could not be followed up. Øzturk consented to the use of his name and likeness in connection with the interrogation mentions of him. Dagbladet asks him why he now talks about the Hagen case. Then Øzturk replies:
– I assure you that by telling the media or the police I won’t gain anything, either to obtain a residence permit or to get rid of someone wanted for me. All I want is for the woman’s fate to come forward and for her to get justice, she says Øzturk.
ON THE RUN: Feyyaz Øzturk lives a life on the run, but says he still chose to come to Norway to tell what he claims to know about the Lørenskog case. Photo: private
sea View
He was wanted – interrogation postponed
Attorney Simon Stende of the law firm Lærum, Lier, Stende & Berven assisted Øzturk in relation to the interrogations in Kripos. Stende tells Dagbladet that he must have been recruited in Turkey in the 1990s by Turkish intelligence.
According to Stende, he also worked for the American authorities with the infiltration of drug circles, and for the Italian police, where he contributed, among other things, with the infiltration of criminal circles.
At a certain point, however, a conflict with the Turkish authorities allegedly arose, which caused the interruption of the collaboration. According to the lawyer, the conflict was due to Øzturk’s refusal to perform an assignment.
– He was wanted internationally by Turkey, and when he arrived in Norway they asked the Norwegian police to hand him over due to three convictions in his home country. The judgments appear, in my view, to have been produced by the Turkish authorities. The warrant was withdrawn after just under two weeks, and then the interrogation in Kripos could take place, says Stende.
“Now are you ready for the negotiation?”
Very detailed information
The lawyer further confirms what Øzturk tells Dagbladet, that more concrete information was given during the interrogation. Details that Stende believes should be fully possible for police to investigate further.
– We are talking about the names of known criminals from different countries who should be involved, information about vehicles, driving routes, kidnapping and other things. The big question is also why on earth would he appear in Norway and tell it in such detail, if he knows nothing about the case? He puts himself at risk, both by talking to the police and the media and by naming the criminals he claims were connected to the case, Stende says.
Details such as the license plate number of one of the cars that would have been used during the kidnapping and the presumed itinerary of the people involved also emerged from the interrogation.
– There was a lot of concrete and concrete, so there should certainly be thorough investigations into what he says. But for now we don’t know how the information he brought has been evaluated, nor what has been done by the investigation. The interrogation was not read and signed, so to this day it stands as invalid, with no one knowing why it ended up that way. However, police said they would like time to investigate the information more closely, Stende says.
The police confirm the investigation
Tom Hagen’s lawyer Svein Holden tells Dagbladet that he is aware of Øzturk’s contact with the police.
– I put the person in touch with the police, and I assume they will follow up on what he has to communicate in a positive way, says Holden.
The police also confirm that Øzturk’s interrogation took place. They hold their cards close to their chests considering the details of what transpired.
– We can confirm that we interviewed a person after receiving a tip before Christmas. Personal information is evaluated like any other information we receive, and the value and credibility of the information must be checked against other evidence of the case and, if necessary, the acquisition of further information, says police inspector Lars Reinholdt- Østbye.
As Dagbladet mentioned earlier, during the four-year investigation, the police turned their attention both to Norway’s neighboring countries and to the rest of the world, even far beyond the borders of Europe. At least 14 countries have received a subpoena – a request for assistance – in connection with the investigation.
The assistance requested had a wide range. Everything from help with information on specific phone numbers to tracking and identity theft has been requested.
