Joint Norwegian/Brazilian raids against B-Gang

Oslo police swept into action on Wednesday with a coordinated series of raids to smash a family believed to be central to a criminal gang.

Arrests were coordinated with a series of raids in Brazil, where Norwegian police took part. The Oslo action was designed to take out central members of the Pakistani 'B-Gang'.

Aftenposten.no received confirmation that Oslo police had arrested at least five of six brothers centrally placed in the gang. Three of the five were in custody before the raids.

Armed police moved into the Furuset district of Oslo, where assorted gang members reside, and at least two arrests were made here.

The raids are part of a major police offensive against criminal Pakistani gangs, a project that began in the autumn of 2006.

Police stormed over ten addresses in the Oslo are. According to information received by Aftenposten.no, the raids were not confined to members of the B-Gang, but also to family members that may have profited from their criminal activities.

At the same time, a major police offensive against Norwegians in Natal was mounted by a total of 230 officers, with Norwegian police assisting their Brazilian colleagues.

According to NRK's (Norwegian Broadcasting) web site, there was a target list of 23 names of arrest targets in the Brazilian city. The list was not restricted to members of the B-Gang who have invested heavily in property there but also a number of other Norwegians.

Search warrants had been procured in order to investigate persons with economic means not in keeping with their declared income, Oslo police said in a press release.

"The action is part of a strategic choice where we have chosen to focus on economic investigation. The objective is primarily to secure and seize proceeds believed to be the profits of criminal operations," said police inspector Iver Stensrud.

Source: Aftenposten (English)

See also: Oslo: gang warfare