The Security Service of the Norwegian Police (PST) has observed that asylum seekers and refugees arriving in Norway are increasingly being monitored by intelligence services from their own homelands.
Foreign intelligence services are sending agents posing as asylum seekers to Norway, and their mission is to map other asylum seekers from their homeland, NRK reports.
The PST confirms that this is an increasing problem.
- We can’t present figures, but but we register via a number of contacts and follow-ups from other institutions that this phenomenon is on the increase, says PST operations director Tore Risberget.
According to NRK, the aim of this foreign surveillanse is to influence and threaten asylum seekers to Norway.
Among other things, Eritrean asylum seekers and refugees are reported to have been forced to pay sums of money, in order to prevent relatives at home from ending up in jail, the broadcaster reports.
