Bulgaria Arrests Norwegian Suspected of Terrorism Links

Police car in Bulgaria. Photo: EPA/VASSIL DONEV

The arrests were announced by Norway's police on Wednesday and then confirmed by the Bulgarian authorities. 

Both detainees are Norwegian citizens. One arrest took place in Oslo, Norway, while the other was in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. The arrest in Bulgaria was done on a warrant issued by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Norway.

"The person is detained for being a member of a terrorist group that was preparing a terrorist attack as well as engaging people in terrorist activities. There is no evidence that this attack would take place on the territory of Bulgaria. This is all related to activity in Europe and beyond," Valentina Madjarova, head of the Specialised Prosecutor's Office, told the media.  

The suspect held in Bulgaria allegedly engaged in online messages related to terrorist acts inside and outside of Europe and had communicated with other radicalised individuals.

It is known that he was a university student but it's unclear whether he studied in Stara Zagora or what the nature of his visit there was. 

In Norway the arrests are being discussed in relation to possible support of Al-Qaeda, but Bulgarian authorities have not confirmed the connection.  

Over the years, indications of Al-Qaeda activity in Bulgaria have been scarce. An Al-Qaeda link was posited in relation to the Burgas bus bombing in August 2012, which targeted Israeli tourists and in which seven people (six Israeli citizens and the Bulgarian bus driver) were killed. However, the then-Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said that evidence suggested that an Iran-linked Hezbollah unit was to blame.