According to the Norwegian Bureau of Crime Investigation (Kripos), criminals from Lithuania have become one of the groups that pose the largest criminal threat to Norway. According to Dagbladet, Kripos reported in a recent presentation that several foreign groups and networks have developed a stronger presence in Norway. Lithuanians seem to be high up on several negative statistics, says acting department head for the tactical section at Kripos, Eivind Borge. Last year, they had the highest number of deportations because of crime, at more than 520 deportations. Lithuanians also rank at the top of the statistics when it comes to crime for profit committed by foreign citizens. More drugs travel through the Baltic on their way to Norway, and Lithuanians have also been involved in several cases of human trafficking. "At the same time," Borge emphasizes,"it's important that we don't stigmatize all Lithuanians." There are about 25,000 Lithuanians in Norway today, and very few of them are involved in any crime, he says. According to Borge, however, national borders seem to be slowly fading when it comes to crime. Kripos noted an increase of Lithuanian crime after the financial crisis in 2008. A Nordic analysis in 2009 revealed that several Lithuanian criminal groups were operating across the Scandinavian borders. (Aftenposten/Dagbladet) http://www.norwaypost.no/index.php/local/ostfold/27191
Norway to send Lithuanian criminals back home! Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite this week agreed with the Norwegian government on an arrangement by which Lithuanians who have been sentenced in Norway will serve their sentence in their home country, writes The Lithuania Tribune. Grybauskaite and her delegation are on a two day visit to Norway where they met the royal family and members of government. Grybauskaite’s meeting with Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg focused on Lithuanian-Norwegian bilateral relations, cooperation in the field of foreign policy and security as well as economy and energy and elimination of Baltic energy isolation, a press release from the president’s office said. “Lithuania is actively engaged in setting up Baltic electricity market with the aim of integrating into the Northern European power exchange system, NordPool. Projects aimed at building electricity connections with Northern Europe are being successfully implemented. Lithuania is strongly committed to constructing a liquefied gas terminal. All this opens up very good prospects for cooperation with Norway, especially in the energy sector, including the possibility to buy Norwegian gas in the future,” Grybauskaite said in the press release. According to the president, the Norwegian Prime Minister has assured her that his country supports Lithuania’s and other Baltic countries’ aspiration to escape from energy isolation as soon as possible and is willing to work actively together towards these aspirations. - - - Updated - - - http://vilnews.com/?p=3183
