Russian man arrested for flying drones near Norway's Arctic oil rigs, sparking energy fears after Nord Stream blasts
14 October 2022, 10:39 | Updated: 14 October 2022, 11:02
A Russian man has been arrested in Norway's Arctic circle under suspicion of illegally flying two drones, amid fears of sabotage after last month's Nord Stream gas pipeline blast.
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It comes after several drones were seen flying near Norwegian offshore oil and gas drilling platforms in recent days, as well as a hoax bomb threat in a gas field.
The Russian man, who was not named, was arrested on Tuesday after customs officers found two drones and electronic storage devices in his luggage.
He was trying to go into Norway at the only crossing point in the 123-mile border between the Scandinavian country and Russia.
The man is suspected of breaching sanctions put in place after Russia invaded Ukraine, prosecutor Anja Mikkelsen Indbjor told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
Aircraft operated by Russian companies or citizens "to land on, take off from or fly over Norwegian territory" is not allowed under Norwegian law.
The Russian man's defence lawyer, Jens Bernhard Herstad, told Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet that his client has admitted to flying the drones but did not say what he was doing in Norway.
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Norwegian justice minister Emilie Enger Mehl said it was "too early to draw conclusions" about the man's motives.
"It is known that we have an intelligence threat against us which has been reinforced by what is happening in Europe," the minister told NRK.
There is heightened security around key energy, internet and power infrastructure after the underwater explosions that broke the two Nord Stream natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea that were built to deliver Russian gas to Germany.
The explosions happened in international waters off both Sweden and Denmark but within the countries' exclusive economic zone.
The damaged pipelines let off huge amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the air.
A hoax bomb threat was called into Nyhamna, a Norwegian gas processing facility operated by Shell, on Thursday.
"As a precaution, the gas plant was evacuated and Shell’s emergency response organization was mobilized,” a spokesperson said. Gas is now flowing again normally.
