STOR-ELVDAL (VG) The car that is said to have been used to abduct a 20-year-old from Tolga, ended up in the middle of the potato field of Hans Håkon Westlund (63).
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Almost a day later, police forces trooped up to the farm.
On Sunday night, a 20-year-old man and his parents were subjected to violence at home in Tolga in Østerdalen, after unknown perpetrators attacked them.
Shots were fired at the home, and the 20-year-old was hit by one, before he was taken in the car.
But the escape route down Østerdalen was not without problems.
According to VG’s information, the getaway car drove off the road after a period of driving. There it must have ended up right in the potato field of Hans Håkon Westlund at Friland farm in Stor-Elvdal.
– They then drove up the farm road and back in the yard, and hid the car between the potato cellar and the garage, says farm owner Westlund when VG meets him at Friland farm.
According to Hamar Arbeiderblad the perpetrators must then have taken a taxi from the Koppang area, before they once again changed cars and continued their journey. VG receives confirmation of the same information.
On the field to Westlund you can still see several car tracks and footprints in the snow, several days after the descent.
Taken over a day later
Neither the farmer nor the neighbor Tomasz Mućka even noticed anything about the dramatic scene that took place on the farm that night.
When Mućka went out to plow on Sunday night, he discovered the tracks in the snow and also the abandoned car, which is said to have been of the Toyota RAV4 type.
He assumed that only someone had been unlucky and driven downhill – and thus left the car.
– I therefore did not report to the police, he says to VG.
It was only when he sat and watched TV at night until Monday that he understood that the car could be connected to the kidnapping case on Tolga, which is close to 130 km away from the farm.
– There was suddenly a lot of activity and police on the farm, he says, and says that he then went to the farm to wake Westlund.
According to the farmer, the police must have told them that they had discovered the tracks by the road, and that they therefore went to the farm to check it out.
The car must have had damage to the front, according to Mućka.
–Interrogated by the police
Friland gård is a large producer of almond potatoes, and Westlund says that there can be activity on the farm around the clock. It is therefore not uncommon for there to be cars on site at night.
– We have a self-service farm shop so people can buy potatoes around the clock, so they just tip. It often happens since we are located along highway 3, he says.
The police are said to have taken the car from the farm on Monday night.
– Yesterday they were here again with both dogs and several patrols, I guess they were looking for clues and if they may have left something behind, says Westerlund.
Both he and Mućka were questioned by the police in connection with the case on Tuesday.
–Two people arrested
A man will be produced on Wednesday for custody in Indre Østlandet district court. He pleads guilty to imprisonment, according to his lawyer Harald Grape.
On Wednesday afternoon, the police confirm that they have arrested another person. According to the police, the person in question will be questioned as soon as possible.
Police confirmed on Tuesday that one of the theories they work from is that the kidnapping has a background in debt. They do not rule out that there may be more arrests in the case.
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