Police arrest two men after death threats sent under their watch

Two men from Vestfossen, aged 32 and 43, have been remanded in custody after one allegedly sent death threats to a man while police were with him, Dagbladet reports.

The case began on Saturday evening, when the two men got into an argument with another man from Øvre Eiker. The complainant says he was threatened and stabbed with a knife.

Video of the incident appears to show the man being beaten. One of the men later remanded in custody is heard saying: “I will take the knife and stab you.” It is unclear whether a knife was used or whether the threat was made without one.

The two men, who are locally described as central figures in a group referred to as the “Vestfossen mafia”, were arrested but released after several hours.

After returning home, the 32 year old allegedly sent several text and audio messages to the complainant. The messages included threats such as: “You are dead”, “You are dead. Regards, fox trot” and “I promise you and X and X are dead”, according to Drammens Tidende, which said the messages were reproduced word for word and that it had anonymised the names.

The complainant received the messages while police were present with him. Both men were then arrested again.

“The two suspects were arrested in connection with the assault, and then it was a relatively short time before police had to arrest them again because of new criminal offences,” police prosecutor Anne Christine Flølo told NRK.

The 32 year old has been remanded for four weeks, while the 43 year old has been remanded for two weeks. Both deny criminal liability in the initial incident and say the complainant was the aggressor.

“My client does not admit criminal liability for the first charge,” lawyer Marius Dietrichson, who represents the 32 year old, told Dagbladet. It is unclear whether his client admits liability for the threats allegedly sent after his release.

The 43 year old is represented by lawyer Sidra Bhatti.

“He says he has done nothing wrong and that the complainant provoked him when my client and his friend were released,” Bhatti told Dagbladet.

Asked about the text and audio messages, she said her client did not know about them and had been asleep at the time.

Both men are known to police. Neither has appealed the remand orders.