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Norway's terror alert bill to get more cash aid

NTB/The Local
NTB/The Local - [email protected]
Norway's terror alert bill to get more cash aid
Finance Minister Siv Jensen with Justice Minister Anders Anundsen. Photo: NTB scanpix

The Norwegian government on Friday said it wants to earmark an extra 74.6 million kroner ($11 million) to cover the costs from handling the terror threat against Norway this summer.

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The bill is for the huge scale of additional police and defense resources that were deployed after PST (Norwegian Police Security Service) reacted to messages about a specific terror threat against Norway.

Part of the security measures included armed police was deployed at airports, railway stations and border passes.

Minister of Justice, Anders Anundsen, said to NTB: “In relation to the terror threat this summer, the alert was raised and protocols were put in place to secure Norway. This, of course, comes with a cost. The proposition that the government put forward today covers the most basic additional expenses.”
 
Together with Minister of Finance, Siv Jensen, Anundsen proposed additional grants be added to this year's national budget. They will give 61.3 million kroner ($9.3 million) to the police, 4.6 million kroner to PST ($700,000), and 7.5 million kroner ($1.1 million) to the Norwegian Armed Forces to cover additional expenditure related to staff overtime, travelling costs and calling back personnel from their vacations. In addition, 1.2 million kroner ($182,000) will be granted for the use of helicopters during the alert.
 
Jensen said: “As we made clear this summer, we are now putting forth a proposition for additional budget, so that the terror alert will not affect ordinary activities.”
 
PST held a press conference about the increased threat on July 24th. Three days later PST informed the Norwegian public that the threat was “somewhat reduced”.
 
On July 31st, PST chief Benedicte Bjørnland claimed that the original information the terror alert was founded upon, was reduced in its likelihood to being correct. She did not exclude the possibility of a terror attack having been prevented as a result of the security protocols in place.
 

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