Norwegian authorities today dropped spying charges against an unnamed 25-year-old foreign student from Malaysia and are now holding him on suspicion of "serious financial crime".
He was arrested on September 8 for illegal wiretapping using various technical means. The court sentenced him to four weeks of pretrial detention on suspicion of spying and conducting intelligence operations against a NATO member state.
The charges against him have since changed, after police said his use of the listening devices was an attempt to obtain information for financial gain.
Norwegian police economic crime unit prosecutor Marijana Bender said he used mobile phone tracking devices, or IMSI-catchers, in an attempt to commit "fraud" in the country's capital Oslo and Norway's second-largest city, Bergen.
IMSI catchers intercept signals on phones to spy on calls and messages.
Benderova said the case is "large and extensive and probably involves organized crime."
He was reportedly caught illegally monitoring signals in a rented car near the Norwegian prime minister's office and the defense ministry. The prosecution said that the initial assumptions were that he was working on behalf of another foreign country.
The suspect is a student, but he is not studying in Norway and has been living there for a relatively short time, authorities said.
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