Security services in Norway are on alert after police arrested three people on suspicion of possessing illegal firearms and explosive equipment outside the country’s largest synagogue.
They were arrested outside Oslo Synagogue in the St Hanshaugen district of the city at around 12 noon on Friday after police officers on duty spotted someone who was “known to them”.
Officers carried out examinations at the scene and three people were detained with one released later in the day.
The other two suspects appeared at the Oslo District Court for pre-trial detention hearing on Sunday.
One was remanded in solitary confinement for two weeks, with restrictions on correspondence and visits.
The second suspect was remanded in custody for one week, also with restrictions on correspondence and visits.
News of the arrests was only released by the authorities on Tuesday but police said they were not initially linking the arrests directly to the synagogue.
Police prosecutor Maren Østern said: “Police emphasise that at this time we have no information suggesting that the case involves threats or an attack against the synagogue or Jewish interests.
“At present, the case appears to have begun with a routine police check of a person previously known to the police, and that the time and location are more or less coincidental.”
However the arrests came just ahead of an explosion at the US embassy in Oslo in the early hours of Sunday morning, which is being treated as a potential terror attack.
Frode Larsen, the head of police joint investigation and intelligence unit, told Norway’s public broadcaster: “One of the hypotheses is that it is an act of terrorism, but we are not completely locked into it.”
Although there was some damage to the embassy building no one was injured in the blast, which is thought to have been caused by an improvised explosive device.
An explosion in Belgium has been described as antisemitic by authorities.
Again although no-one was injured, the blast, at 4am on Monday, blew out windows and damaged a door at the synagogue in Liège.
Belgium’s interior minister Bernard Quintin said it was “a despicable antisemitic act that directly targeted the Jewish community”.
He added: “Security measures around similar sites will continue to be strengthened.”
On Monday it emerged that US intelligence had reportedly intercepted what it suspected were Iranian trigger messages activating “sleeper cells” around the world.
A federal government alert sent to law enforcement agencies said the encrypted messages “likely of Iranian origin” were relayed across multiple countries shortly after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to US news site ABC News.
Oslo police said they were still investigating the explanations provided by the two remaining suspects for being near the synagogue on Friday.
Grete Metlid, head of the Joint Operational Support Department said: “Although the case is currently not considered to be linked to the synagogue, its location, users, or residents, the Oslo Police District would nevertheless like to emphasise that we have for some time maintained increased security and police presence at several locations.
“This also applies to the synagogue. These measures have been implemented on the basis of threat assessments from the Police Security Service (PST) and developments in the international situation more generally.”
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