Both Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Justice Minister Knut Storberget interrupted their vacation and returned to Oslo, following the arrest of three terrorist suspects early Thursday morning.
“Terrorism creates fear and insecurity, and must be combated. We shall maintain and consolidate public security in Norway,” said Prime Minister Stoltenberg at a hastily called press conference.
“No one shall be able to steal our security, said Justice Minister Storberget.
Stoltenberg stressed that the case is under investigation by the Prosecuting Authority, and that the question of guilt has not yet been decided.
The Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice and the Police have received regular updates from the Police Security Service in this matter, and the members of the Government’s Security Council have also been briefed.
“Combating terrorism has the highest priority, and the Police and the Prosecuting Authority have treated this case with the utmost seriousness from the outset”, the Prime Minister says.
He said the case showed that Norway is not exempt from becoming a target for terrorism.
“It has been imperative for Norwegian authorities to make sure that the Police Security Service has had adequate resources to handle this case,” says Stoltenberg.
The Police Security Service has had its budget and staff strengthened so as to be able to handle tasks of greater scope and complexity, for instance work related to counter-terrorism. The service’s budget has increased by 55 percent since 2005, from NOK 240 million to NOK 373 million in 2010. The staff has increased by nearly 30 per cent since 2005, from 400 man-labour years to 517 in 2010.
On 27 May 2010, the Minister of Justice and the Police briefed the committees of the Norwegian Parliament on new potential threats, based on the Police Security Service’s threat assessment, published 18 February 2010.
”Today, the Police Security Service says that the current threat situation in Norway is not significantly altered as a result of the apprehensions. Simultaneously, it is pointed out that the threat situation in Norway is gradually becoming more similar to the situation in countries where terrorist acts have been carried out or have been attempted to be carried out,” says the Minister of Justice and the Police, Knut Storberget.
