Norwegian police arrest a Chinese citizen on spying allegations

OSLO, Norway -- Authorities in Norway arrested a Chinese citizen on espionage allegations Thursday in connection with a purported effort to set up a receiver to collect sensitive satellite data, the country’s domestic intelligence service said.

Norwegian security officials also searched two premises in connection with the arrest, including one on an island in northern Norway that’s home to Andøya Spaceport, which is part of Europe’s efforts to expand its presence in space. The other search took place in Innlandet, in southern Norway.

Police launched their operation on the suspicion that a Norwegian-registered company was operating as a front for a Chinese state actor, the Police Security Service, or PST, said.

The suspect, who was identified only as a Chinese woman, allegedly tried “to establish a receiver for satellite downloads from satellites in polar orbits suitable for collecting data that could harm fundamental Norwegian interests if it becomes known to a foreign state,” PST police attorney Thomas Blom said in a statement.

Police said that the satellite receiver in question had been seized and that the alleged plans to install and operate it had been halted.

The incident “involves complicity in an attempt at serious espionage against state secrets,” the statement said.

The police statement also said several other people had been charged in the same case, without giving any further details, including the nationalities of those people and whether they had also been arrested.

Andøya Space's CEO, Ketil Olsen, said in a statement Thursday that the company had no connection “to the individual involved,” and had “not observed any activity related to our operations in this matter.”