On the night of Boxing Day, the police tried to stop a car in Kongsvinger.
The driver refused to stop, and after a short car chase the car crashed in a roundabout. That was the start of what the police believe is a kidnapping case.
– We take this case very seriously and have invested a lot of resources in it to oversee the investigation, said police attorney Wigdis Hjalmarsen at Innlandet police district to NRK at the weekend.
Wigdis Hjalmarsen, police attorney at Innlandet police district.
Photo: Ann-Kristin Mo / NRK
Seven charged
Seven people have now been charged with serious deprivation of liberty.
Three of the accused have been remanded in custody for four weeks, while three others have requested remand.
The last accused has not been arrested, but is wanted internationally.
– We are in the initial phase and want to secure all the evidence we can. The remands are to avoid the risk of evidence being tampered with, says police attorney Hjalmarsen.
Known to the police from before
The vast majority of those involved are already known to the police, including in connection with drug cases.
The police say they do not know if this is a settlement in the drug community.
– We currently do not know what is the background to the incident. We will try to uncover that through the further investigation, says Hjalmarsen.
According to NRK’s information, two of the people involved must have been associated with the MC club Satudarah.
Talked about threats and violence
The operations center in Innlandet was called on the night of Boxing Day.
The man who called told about threats, violence and deprivation of liberty, and that he and another man were being pursued.
He explained that two cars followed them on national highway 2 between Eidskog and Kongsvinger.
In the one car that followed them, there was supposed to be a man who had been kidnapped.
The police located the cars, but they did not stop.
The car chase ended when the car, in which the man who was allegedly deprived of his liberty was sitting, crashed in a roundabout in the center of Kongsvinger.
Four people were taken to hospital. One of them, a man charged in the case, disappeared from the hospital and is now wanted.
The car chase ended at a roundabout in Kongsvinger.
Photo: PER HÅKON PETTERSEN / GLÅNDALEN
Was approached by the accused
The deprivation of liberty is said to have taken place in a home where five of the accused were said to have been present.
Two of the offended men are said to have been subjected to violence, threats and deprivation of liberty for several hours.
For the third victim, it is uncertain how long the alleged criminal circumstances will have lasted.
– It is deprivation of liberty, where there must have been both threats and violence. The deprivation of liberty has continued over time, and there are also several different crime scenes for the incidents, says police attorney Hjalmarsen.
The police have carried out investigations in several homes in Kongsvinger and Eidskog. Several seizures have also been made which will be reviewed. Among other things, the police investigate digital traces on mobile phones and computers.
– We have questioned several witnesses and will question the newly accused in the case, says Hjalmarsen.
The police in Innlandet are putting great resources into the case, where seven have been charged with violence, threats and kidnapping.
Photo: Lars Erik Skrefsrud / NRK
Denies criminal liability
Two of the accused were arrested on Friday, while four others were arrested earlier. So far, none of these have wanted to allow themselves to be questioned.
Usama Ahmad, who is defending a man in his early 30s, says his client denies guilt.
The man, who has previously confirmed that he has been associated with the MC club Satudarah, applied for release during a detention meeting on Thursday.
The court did not find grounds to imprison him, but the prosecution has appealed, so the man is in prison until the Court of Appeal decides on the imprisonment issue on Tuesday.
Sugin Varatharajan from the law firm Rogstad is defending a man in his 40s. Nor does he plead guilty.
– My client has no connection to any criminal network, he says.
The man is in custody.
– But we do not agree with that and will appeal to the Court of Appeal, says Varatharajan.
Several of the other accused also plead not guilty.
The defense attorney for the offended men does not want to comment on the case, as it is under investigation.
2024-01-01 13:21:57
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