Nor do the Norwegian police, who have wanted Arfan Qadeer Bhatti all over the world for the terrorist attack in Oslo last summer, know with certainty where Bhatti is.
On the night of Saturday 25 June, shooting and killing Zaniar Matapour two people and injured 21 others outside Per på konkeret and London pub in central Oslo. Two months later – on 29 August – the Islamist Arfan Qadeer Bhatti was formally charged in the terrorist case, and wanted all over the world.
A few weeks later – at the end of September – Bhatti disappeared from the village he had been staying in, outside the city of Gujrat, which lies between the big cities of Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan.
Don’t know where Bhatti is
He has since disappeared without a trace. Neither his immediate family in Norway nor his relatives in Pakistan know where he is. They believe he has been apprehended by an intelligence organization and that he is being held in prison.
Pakistani authorities have neither confirmed nor denied that the Norwegian-Pakistani has been arrested and is being held by the feared Pakistani intelligence service ISI – The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence – the largest and most influential intelligence service in Pakistan.
– Bhatti’s family does not want to speak to the media, they want to be left alone. But they agree that Dagbladet is now covering the case, says the family’s lawyer John Christian Elden.
Dagbladet has tried in vain to make contact with ISI.
Investigation manager and police lawyer Børge Enoksen in the Oslo Police District answers briefly and to the point:
– No, when asked whether Norwegian police have officially confirmed that Arfan Bhatti has been arrested in Pakistan.
WANTED: – Bhatti is charged and wanted for serious terrorism, says police attorney Børge Enoksen. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB
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Nor does the E-service, which notified PST of a possible terrorist attack, and which former PST chief Janne Kristiansen disclosed in a hearing at the Storting in 2012 had agents on the ground in Pakistan, wants to say anything about Bhatti.
– For security reasons, we do not comment on operational matters, the only communication manager Ann-Kristin Bjergene in the intelligence service will say.
“Collaborator”
– As you know, the Oslo Police District visited Pakistan last autumn to optimize the possibility of getting Bhatti arrested and extradited to Norway. We are still cooperating with the Pakistani authorities and hope that there will soon be a development in the case, says Enoksen to Dagbladet.
– We do not wish to comment on the case, is the only communication adviser Eirik Veum in the Police Security Service (PST) will say to Dagbladet.
– Arfan Bhatti was charged in the terrorist case on 29 August last year and only one charge has been drawn up against him, says police attorney Enoksen.
– Shortly after he was charged, a court request was sent to Pakistan, requesting his arrest and extradition to Norway, as well as other investigative steps. The Oslo district court had concluded ahead of the court request that Bhatti could reasonably be suspected of the penalties in the charge, says Enoksen.
Serious act of terrorism
– The charge against Bhatti contains more penalties than the three people who have been charged and remanded in custody in Norway.
– Among other things, Bhatti is charged with complicity in a serious act of terrorism because this could be a relevant sentence for the court to consider, should he be prosecuted in the case.
– The terrorist case is still under investigation and it is too early to conclude what role the various accused have in the case, says police attorney Enoksen.
In January 2013, Arfan Bhatti was arrested in Pakistan. Probably by a section of the intelligence service ISI. He was imprisoned for several months, before he was suddenly released and able to return to Norway.
Tortured
After Bhatti returned to Norway, he told that he had stayed subjected to torture during several of the interrogations – including the use of water.
In a conversation with Dagbladet, which he did not want published, Bhatti claimed that he had also been questioned by American intelligence agents.
This is said to have happened while he was imprisoned by the ISI, without him having been presented in a court hearing.
Norway’s most famous and feared Islamist also claimed to have been a Norwegian in the room during at least one of the interrogations.
Bhatti explained it this way:
“I’m absolutely sure, I could smell that a Norwegian was present. He didn’t say anything, but I knew he was there».
The car back
Arfan Bhatti’s family in Norway did not wish to comment to Dagbladet. Nor should they have been formally questioned by the police.
– The police do not comment on which witnesses we have spoken to in the terror case, but we can confirm that we have had contact with family members of Bhatti, says Enoksen.
But according to what Dagbladet is informed, no one in Bhatti’s family has wanted to speak to either the PST or the police
The last sure clue of Bhatti is the car he was driving, when he went missing, suddenly appeared.
After being gone without a trace for less than a month, the car was suddenly parked right next to the house Bhatti had been staying in, until he disappeared.
– The car disappeared on the same day that Bhatti disappeared. One night in October, the car was suddenly back. During the night, someone had parked the car – with the keys in it – outside the house, says someone who is close to the family.
Traveled to Pakistan
Dagbladet is aware that close family members of Bhatti have twice traveled to Pakistan from Norway to look for him.
ISLAMIST: This photo was posted on social media shortly before Bhatti was arrested by the ISI in 2013. Photo: Privat
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The trips have been in vain. Despite an intense search, and contact with both the police and the authorities, the family has not received any answers as to what has happened, or who has arrested him.
Family members in both Pakistan and Norway have also tried to contact both the secret services and politicians in the country, without success.
Anxious family
Lawyer John Christian Elden has been Arfan Bhatti’s permanent lawyer for 30 years. He is now assisting the family of the wanted 45-year-old.
– The only thing we know for sure is that Bhatti disappeared on 23 September, says Elden.
– The family believes he has been arrested by the intelligence service in Pakistan, but they do not know for sure. They are naturally anxious, says Elden.
Immediately after the terrorist attack in Oslo last summer, John Christian Elden was appointed as defense counsel for Zaniar Matapour, who is charged with having carried out the terrorist attack itself.
When Bhatti was charged with complicity in August, Svein Holden was appointed as Bhatti’s lawyer, because Elden then represented Matapour. Later, Matapour changed his lawyer.
Risking 30 years
Dagbladet also gets confirmation that Bhatti’s Norwegian passport will now be zeroed out. This means that if Bhatti tries to use the passport, it will not be possible to use it to travel.
If the wanted Norwegian-Pakistani tries to use his nulled Norwegian passport at an airport, he will be immediately arrested.
In the international wanted list, Bhatti is described as an extreme and dangerous Islamist, who is wanted for the terrorist attack in Oslo last summer.
DEFENDER: Lawyer John Christian Elden (th) has been Arfan Qadeer Bhatti’s permanent defender for 30 years. The picture is from the Oslo district court in 2018. Bhatti had then sued the Norwegian state for what he believed to be unlawful persecution by the police and PST. Photo: Vidar Ruud / NTB
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Elden does not want to speculate on whether Arfan Bhatti will voluntarily return home to Norway, or whether the internationally wanted terrorist wants to remain in his second homeland, Pakistan.
If Bhatti is extradited by the Pakistani authorities, or if he is arrested in another country and sent to Norway, there is reason to assume that the prosecution will submit a claim for 30 years’ imprisonment in custody.
The question then is whether Bhatti wants to come back, and risk spending the rest of his life in a Norwegian prison.
