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Norway to Denmark: 'We didn't ask for help'

The Local Denmark
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Norway to Denmark: 'We didn't ask for help'
Armed Norwegian police check are greeting arriving ferries. Photo: Tor Erik Schrøder/Scanpix

Ferry operators have increased security checks for Norway-bound passengers, but the Norwegians said they would rather handle the current terror threat from their end.

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With Norway on edge about a potential terror attack, Danish ferry operators have increased security checks on Norway-bound vessels.
 
According to Norwegian newspaper VG, two Norwegian families and a football team were initially denied entry onto an Oslo-bound Stena Line ferry from Frederikshavn after failing to produce valid passports.
 
The Norwegians were eventually allowed to board after showing their driving licences. 
 
“The rules say that 100 percent of the people wanting to sail to Norway need to show a valid passport or ID number and we need to enforce that,” Stena Line spokesman Jesper Waltersson told VG.
 
 
The ferry company Fjord Line also reported increasing its security levels on Norway-bound ships. 
 
Rather than thanking the Danes for the vigilance, the Norwegian authorities said that it was unnecessary for Danish ferry operators to get involved in Norway’s current security efforts.
 
“Here in Norway we carry out controls based on the  intelligence work done here. We have not asked other countries to help us with this work,” John Ståle Stamnes, the assistant commissioner at the Norwegian Police Directorate, told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
 
Stamnes said the Norwegian police have received many security inquires from Denmark. 
 
Since the Norwegian Security Police warned on Thursday of an “imminent” terror attack, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (Politiets Efterretningstjeneste - PET) has been keeping close tabs on the developments. PET did not, however, change the overall terror assessment in Denmark based on the Norwegian threat.
 
Norwegian police said on Sunday that the terror threats that have disrupted the country stem from a a group of radical extremists who have recently left Syria.
 
The Local Norway has more updates on the terror threat.  

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