Crooks fit stolen licence plates to lorry in midnight raid on Gardermoen fish load.
Norwegian police are hunting brazen thieves who hooked an entire trailer packed with fish worth nearly NOK 1.8 million ($180,000) – from an industrial estate by Oslo’s main airport in the middle of the night.
The refrigerated trailer, loaded with about 15 tonnes of fish, was stolen from a site near Gardermoen, home to Oslo Airport and one of Norway’s biggest hubs for seafood exports.
According to duty officer Kjetil Elnan Ringseth, officers were sent to the scene in the early hours of Saturday after the theft was reported.
Police later found the trailer abandoned in Berger, an area north-east of Oslo. The entire load of fish was still inside, but the trailer had been fitted with stolen licence plates, suggesting a more organised attempt to move it.
“We have returned the trailer and the fish to the rightful owner,” Ringseth noted in the police log. No one has been arrested so far.
Likely bound for export
Norwegian police believe the thieves planned to drive the load out of the country, tapping into the booming trade in Norwegian seafood. Norway is one of the world’s largest exporters of farmed salmon and whitefish, with chilled trucks running day and night from hubs like Gardermoen to the rest of Europe.
The value of the stolen fish, estimated at NOK 1.8 million, underlines how attractive seafood has become to organised criminals, with a single trailer offering a six-figure payout if successfully moved and sold on.
For now, the only thing on ice is the investigation. Police say no suspects have been identified, and the case remains open.
