:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/mentormedier/BWZ7UB5VZNGE3EW2GHEAP5UCCU.jpg "Discovered attempted human trafficking under corona control – Dagsavisen")
On 28 October 2020, the government will introduce new, national austerity measures to deal with the corona pandemic, which is then about to reach new heights in Norway.
– We are facing the most serious situation of reversing the infection since March. If we take action now, there is a much greater chance that we can have a normal Christmas celebration with the extended family, says the then Prime Minister Erna Solberg during a press conference a couple of days in advance.
Among the measures are changes in the rules for labor immigration due to increased import infection.
On the same day as the new restrictions are introduced, a man drives from Sweden towards the old Svinesund bridge. A woman with a fake passport is also in the car.
Paid human traffickers
The man lives in Østfold and has lived in Norway for several years. The female passenger, like the man, is originally from a country in the Middle East. The man believes it is dangerous for the woman to stay in this country because of his own background. A couple of years earlier they got married. The only problem is that the marriage is not considered valid by the Norwegian authorities. Thus, they can not apply for family immigration.
Instead, the woman’s family pays some human traffickers, who help her enter the EU via Turkey. In Greece, she is provided with a fake Danish passport.
After being picked up by the man in either Denmark or Sweden, they drive together to Norway.
Claimed they had been on a shopping trip – were gone for 12 days
At the border, they are met by the police, who are in control due to the entry restrictions. The man explains that the couple has only been to Sweden to shop. The police do not believe that explanation. At the same time, they find it suspicious that the woman’s passport does not appear in the Danish passport register.
During a search of the car, they find foreign money and a lot of clothes, which indicates that they have not just been over the border to shop. They also find a passport from the woman’s home country, which does not contain any stamps indicating that it has been used for entry into the Schengen area.
The customs service then checks the man’s car and sees that it had passed out of Norway 12 days earlier. In other words, an unusually long Harry trip, if that was really the purpose.
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Did not say that the woman should apply for asylum
The case has now been heard in Søndre Østfold District Court, where the man was charged with human trafficking.
The court had to consider, among other things, whether the man helped a refugee who was in danger of being persecuted in his home country. In that case, the smuggling would be impunity, but only if they immediately appeared before the authorities and made it clear that the woman would apply for asylum.
They did not. During the border control at Svinesund, it was not mentioned that the woman should seek asylum in Norway, nor on direct questions from the police. The man later explained that he wanted to transport his wife home and keep her there for a few days, before she would later be driven to the National Arrivals Center in Råde.
Søndre Østfold District Court thus concluded that the entry was not lawful.
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Can escape prison
The prosecutor asked for 60 days in prison for the man, of which half of the sentence was suspended. Instead, the district court held that there were several circumstances that made the sentence milder. Among other things, the man’s recognition of the actual circumstances and the case’s long length of stay.
The case was heard in Søndre Østfold District Court on 9 December 2021, after being postponed due to illness.
On December 16, the verdict fell. The district court concluded that 45 days probation was enough. This means that the man does not have to serve time in prison, as long as he does not break the law for the next two years. He chose not to appeal the verdict.
Hanna Sofie Aronsen, the man’s defender, does not want to comment on the case.
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