Guard at US Embassy in Norway accused of spying for Russia and Iran

Authorities in Norway have arrested a Norwegian man who worked as a security guard at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, accusing him of passing sensitive information to Russia and Iran.

Under interrogation, the man, identified as Mohamed Orahhou, 27, admitted to collecting and sharing information with an officer from one of Russia’s intelligence services, the SVR, as well as with unspecified Iranian officials, according to Norwegian authorities and Orahhou’s lawyer.

Authorities have not released details about the type of information involved, but on Thursday a court in Oslo, citing the seriousness of the accusations, ordered Orahhou to be jailed for four weeks pending further investigation. After that, another hearing will be held.

“This is a very serious case,” Thomas Blom, an official from Norway’s Police Security Service, said in a text message to The New York Times. “We are at the very beginning of a rather extensive investigation.”

The arrest comes amid heightened concern over Russian espionage activities in Europe after a spate of arson attacks, vandalism and assaults against individuals, all of which have been linked to Russian operatives. This month, details emerged about an apparent Russian plot to place incendiary devices aboard cargo planes in Europe, and on Thursday, U.S. intelligence officials issued a warning to U.S. defense companies to be vigilant in the face of potential Russian sabotage operations.

Last month, Ken McCallum, the chief of Britain’s domestic spy service, MI5, warned that Russian intelligence operatives were on a mission “to generate mayhem on British and European streets.”

Iran, too, represents a serious espionage threat, McCallum said. Since January 2022, he said, the British security services had disrupted 20 Iranian-backed plots that posed potentially lethal threats to British citizens. Other European countries and the United States have warned of similar threats coming from Iran. This month, federal prosecutors in New York said that Iranian operatives had plotted to assassinate Donald Trump.

Orahhou was arrested at his residence in Oslo on Wednesday, officials said. If convicted under Norway’s espionage statute, he could face up to 10 years in prison.

The U.S. Embassy in Oslo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In an email to the Times, Orahhou’s lawyer, John Christian Elden, said his client had admitted to having contact with Russian and Iranian intelligence operatives, but it was still unclear if his activities were serious enough to fall under Norway’s espionage statute.

In a subsequent news release, Elden said his client had no security clearance as part of his job at the embassy and no access to classified information.

Orahhou also appears to have been enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program at the University of Tromso, in the far north of Norway. The university released a statement, not naming Orahhou, but confirming that “the man charged with attempted gross espionage” was a student, studying security and emergency preparedness. Among other things, the course covers defense and security issues related to Norway’s Arctic region, an area of intense competition with Russia.

In 2022, Norwegian police arrested a Russian spy named Mikhail Mikushin, who was working as a researcher at the same university, posing as a Brazilian. Mikushin was among a handful of Russian operatives sent back to Russia last summer in the swap that freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and a former U.S. Marine, Paul Whelan, among others.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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