RTSun, 09 Apr 2017 12:11 UTC
© Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
The detained individual is being questioned as a suspect, Oslo police service said on its official Twitter page.
Police have conducted a controlled detonation of the suspicious object, police spokesman Svein Arild Jørundland told VG, adding that at the moment it is unknown whether the device actually contained any explosive elements.
However, he noted that the blast appeared to be more powerful than expected in case of an ordinary detonation, adding that bomb disposal experts have been examining the aftermath of the explosion.
"The noise from the blast was louder than our explosives themselves would cause," a police spokesman was quoted by Reuters.
Police earlier said on Twitter that they believe the device "does not have a huge potential for injuries."The suspiciously-looking item was found near a bridge on Grønlandsleiret, one of the Norwegian capital's main streets, Jørundland told VG, adding that a bomb squad has been dispatched to the scene.
Comment: A Norwegian court has authorized a two-week arrest for the Russian 17-year-old suspected of plotting an attack. While his name hasn't been released, he comes from Russia's southern Caucasus region (Checnya, Dagestan, etc.). More
from RT:
...he came to Norway as a 10-year-old with his family and had applied for asylum. The Russian embassy in Norway confirmed that the detained teenager is a Russian national living in the Scandinavian country with his parents.
...
The suspect was in possession of a device made of a "gas cylinder and strike elements," the media outlet reported.
Visitors or media interviews have been prohibited for the time the teen is under arrest.
Most of the hearing was conducted behind closed doors.
The young man was detained by police on Saturday night, after a witness alerted police of a person with a suspicious package, according to media reports. A bomb squad was deployed and the small object was destroyed with no one hurt in the incident. The teenager was later accused of possessing a primitive explosive device.
Norwegian police requested to keep the teenager in detention while investigating suspicions that he was plotting an attack with a "bomb-like" device. Under Norwegian law, two weeks is the maximum period allowed for a minor to be detained while being investigated under anti-terrorism laws.
The teenager's lawyer says the suspect pleads innocence.
"He is accused of having placed an object in a public place in Oslo. Security services thought that he was going to activate it. He says he was not going to harm anyone and that the object was of no particular threat," Aase Karine Sigmond told RT Russian.
The lawyer told Reuters the teen's actions were "a boyish prank."
Sigmond also told RT Russian that the teenager "considered himself to be a Norwegian." He was not going to apply for assistance to the Russian embassy, but was willing to cooperate with Norwegian authorities, she said. The young man denied talking to Russian diplomats, with the denial affirmed by the Russian embassy in Oslo.
Comment: A Norwegian court has authorized a two-week arrest for the Russian 17-year-old suspected of plotting an attack. While his name hasn't been released, he comes from Russia's southern Caucasus region (Checnya, Dagestan, etc.). More from RT: