Security guard at US embassy in Oslo arrested for espionage

By Gwladys Fouche

OSLO (Reuters) - A security guard working at the U.S. embassy in Norway has been arrested on suspicion of espionage on behalf of Russia and Iran, a Norwegian security police official said on Thursday.

The man, a Norwegian citizen in his 20s, was arrested at his home on Wednesday, police said. On Thursday, a court ruled he could be detained for an initial four weeks, with the first week in isolation, while police investigate.

"The accused man was an employee, a security guard, at the U.S. embassy in Oslo," Thomas Blom, a lawyer for the security police service PST, told reporters.

The man was cooperating and talking to officers, Blom said, adding that a "large" amount of digital material had been confiscated.

"We have just scraped the top and we are working our way through it," said Blom.

The man's lawyer, John Christian Elden, said his client had been in contact with Russian and Iranian intelligence officers.

"He has explained himself about his contact with intelligence agents from Russia and Iran but it is unclear whether he has had secret information that would mean that anti-espionage laws could be used against him," Elden told Reuters.

"Further investigation will show whether he is guilty of a crime or not."

(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche; Editing by Alistair Bell)

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