Twelve men, including the leader of the criminal gang “Nordlandsligaen”, were sentenced to long prison sentences in the so-called “flydrop case” – after a small plane dumped a bag of amphetamines in a pond near Lillesand in the autumn of 1993.
THE AIRCRAFT CASE: Former leader of the Nordland mafia, Gunnar Evertsen, is certain that the police used illegal methods before he and 11 others were sentenced to long prison terms in 1994. Video: Lars Eivind Bones. Reporter: Gunnar Hultgreen Show more
Together with former police officer Viggo Trosdahl, activist and former parliamentary representative Erling Folkvord (Ap), has been looking for facts in the plane drop case in recent years.
Folkvord is convinced that it was an illegal provocation, staged by the Oslo police.
– The plane drop case was a large, long-term and well-planned police operation in Norway and the Netherlands. An illegal police provocation, says Folkvord.
DUMPED AMPHETAMINE: Twelve men were convicted in the airdrop case, where a bag of amphetamine was dumped in Lillesand. Several claim to have been convicted innocently. Photo: Police Show more
The airdrop case was discussed in closed court during the trial against former police chief Eirik Jensen and police informant Gjermund Cappelen. The Supreme Court will now assess whether the audio recordings can be given to the Commission for the Resumption of Criminal Cases.
The recordings may lead to the plane-drop case having to be judicially processed again.
This is the case
For several years, the Oslo police hunted the “Nordlandsligaen” who smuggled amphetamines into Norway. In the autumn of 1993, the police struck and arrested the league, when a small plane dumped a bag of amphetamines in a pond at Lillesand in Southern Norway. Police informant Gjermund Cappelen had arranged amphetamines for the league. While the police followed every step the criminals took. Twelve men were sentenced to long sentences. Several of those who were convicted have believed after the verdict that they were innocently convicted, and that the police tricked them into a trap. During the trial against Police Superintendent Eirik Jensen, information emerged in closed court that may indicate that the whole plane drop case was a illegal police operation, according to John Christian Elden. Elden notified the Re-recording Commission of a possible judicial murder. The commission asked the Court of Appeal for access, but was refused. Now the Supreme Court must assess whether the Re-recording Commission receives the audio tapes from a closed court. If the Supreme Court allows the commission access to the audio tapes, airdrop- the case be reopened. In that case, the Commission for the Resumption of Criminal Cases must consider that the airdrop case was an illegal provocation by the police.
Folkvord is certain that the police, led by police officer Eirik Jensen, then head of the Oslo police’s narcotics section, Roger Andresen and then state attorney Lars Frønsdal launched an action to get what the police referred to as both the “Nordland League” and the “Nordland Mafia”.
As early as 1994, it was claimed in Norwegian law that Cappelen cooperated with the police
“Approved at the highest level”
Folkvord emphasizes to Dagbladet that such a planned police action in another country requires approval from the highest prosecuting authority.
– The Supreme Court established already in 1984 the distinction between legal and illegal provocation:
“It cannot be accepted that the police provoke a criminal act that would otherwise not have been committed,” the Supreme Court ruled.
APPEAL CASE: On Tuesday 28 August, the appeal case against Eirik Jensen and Gjermund Cappelen begins in the Borgarting Court of Appeal. Jensen was one of Norway’s most renowned policemen, but ended up being sentenced to 21 years in prison for gross corruption and drug trafficking in one of the most publicized trials in Norwegian history. Video: Nicolai Delebekk Show more
– The Attorney General followed this up in his Circular No. 2 in 2000, and stated: “The prosecution’s provocation deprives the act of its unlawful character so that punishment cannot be applied”.
– Our investigations show that the Oslo police did exactly this in the plane drop case. The newly enlisted police informant Gjermund Cappelen, whose name was then Gjermund Maack Thorud, provoked a criminal act. At the behest of his source manager in the police – Eirik Jensen – Cappelen made an extraordinary “offer” to the Finn marking Gunnar Evertsen, whom the police had identified as the leader of the “Nordlandsligaen”.
– Why have you become involved in this case?
– I visited Gunnar Evertsen in prison 13 years ago. He alleged that he had been the victim of a judicial murder. I doubted it was true. Three years ago I met him again. Together with former police officer Viggo Trosdahl, I began to investigate the case. I was convinced, upset and pissed off.
“NORDLANDSLIGAEN”: Gunnar Evertsen led the criminal group that smuggled amphetamines from the Netherlands by small plane. The photo was taken at Ullersmo in 2016, when Dagbladet met Evertsen in prison. He claims he has been convicted innocently. Photo: Lars Eivind Bones / Dagbladet Show more
– Striking
Trosdahl and Folkvord have gone through the court books, other documents and spoken to both police officers and criminals who were involved.
– It is striking that the airdrop case was divided into four different trials, says Folkvord.
He also refers to the prosecutor’s – state attorney Lars Frønsdal’s – behavior in court, which he believes indicates that he wanted to hide the fact that it was an illegal provocation.
– None of those who were sentenced in the case were prosecuted for having bought the 10 kilograms of amphetamine. It was not supposed to be a topic in court.
Beaten trust
– Half a year before one of the trials in 1994, the defenders – lawyers Fridtjof Feydt and Tor Erling Staff – raised the issue of illegal police provocation. Frønsdal did not answer.
The defense asked for Cappelen to testify. Then the public prosecutor stated that the police did not find him. It has subsequently emerged that Cappelen was then in a cell at the police station, Dagbladet has been confirmed by several sources.
AMPHETAMINE: Gjermund Cappelen arranged the purchase of amphetamine in the Netherlands for the “Nordlandsligaen”. The picture is from the trial against Cappelen and Eirik Jensen. Photo: Bjørn Langsem / Dagbladet Show more
“Amphetamine Drought”
– In the summer of 1993 there was an “amphetamine drought” in Oslo. With the help of the police informant Cappelen, the police set out a bait, to catch Gunnar Evertsen and the disheveled gang that the police called the “Nordlandsmafiaen”. Because the whole case was an illegal police provocation, the verdicts are judicial murder, Folkvord believes.
Several police officers who took part in the police operation have told Dagbladet that they agreed that the airdrop case was led by then-narcotics police chief Roger Andresen. He had again been informed and approved of the operation by the then head of crime in the Oslo police, Truls Fyhn, and state prosecutor Lars Frønsdal.
– I don’t think Roger Andresen was anything other than a little boy. He used the plane drop case to bask in the media glare.
TAUS: Former head of the narcotics section in the then Oslo police chamber, Roger Andresen, has not answered Dagbladet’s inquiries. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB Show more
– Rotten civil service
Roger Andresen has not answered Dagbladet’s inquiries – neither directly nor via the communication unit in the Oslo police district. Truls Fyhn and Lars Frønsdal have died.
– Who do you think is responsible for the airdrop case?
– The responsibility lies at the top of the civil service. We are dealing with rotten parts of a civil service, which approved an illegal police provocation. Our conclusion is that many police officers who participated in the operation at various levels were unaware that they were taking part in a carefully planned and illegal police operation, says Folkvord.
TAUS: Former police director Ingelin Killengren does not want to answer questions. Photo: Morten Holm / NTB Show more
Ingelin Killengreen, former head of expedition in the police department and ministerial adviser in the Ministry of Justice, police chief in Oslo and director of police responds through the communications department in the Directorate of Police; that she has nothing to contribute.
Killengreen does not want to answer questions from Dagbladet.
The former Storting representative Erling Folkvord has also mentioned the airdrop case in the book “It wasn’t just Eirik Jensen”. The book was published by the publisher Solum Bokvennen in 2021.
2023-11-06 06:09:22
#upset #pissed
