Aftenposten has, in an extensive mapping, taken a closer look at what is now described as the largest and most active criminal network in the capital.
The newspaper’s investigations show that almost all individuals whom the police have identified as part of this gang have parents with a foreign background. The environment has its centre of gravity in areas such as Mortensrud and Søndre Nordstrand, but they engage in drug dealing and violent activity across the whole of Oslo.
This demonstrates a development in which integration appears to have failed completely in these parts of the city.
Failed struggle against recruitment
Many of those who today constitute the core of this network grew up in the shadow of the old gangs in Holmlia. In 2017, the police carried out a major operation called Operation Gamma, but the results now appear to have been short-lived. Instead of the environment disappearing, a new generation has taken over, and they appear more entrenched and professional than those who operated a decade ago. The police now regard this network as one of the greatest threats to security in Oslo, and they admit that neither previous punishment nor preventive measures have had the desired effect.
Oslo 26.01.2026. President of the Storting Masud Gharahkhani speaks.
Commemoration in Oslo City Hall on the 25th anniversary of the murder of Benjamin Hermansen. Benjamin Hermansen (15) was killed on Holmlia in Oslo on 26 January 2001. The murder was racially motivated. The Crown Prince and Crown Princess attend the commemoration together with 800 lower secondary school pupils from across Oslo. This commemoration is important for official Norway, but the many criminal immigrants who reside in the area are not mentioned.
Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB
Criminal identity and welfare benefits
One of the most telling examples in the mapping is the story of a young man referred to as Ismail. He is under eighteen, yet already receives disability benefits from the Norwegian state. Despite extensive measures from both child welfare services and the police, he has chosen to remain in the criminal environment in Mortensrud. In a recent court case, it emerged how he views his own situation, and he stated, among other things: “First they said we were criminals, and then we became criminals, brother.”
This quotation underscores the deep mistrust that exists between these youths and Norwegian society at large.
Oslo 06.11.2024.
Mayor of Oslo Anne Lindboe (H) during the opening of the Holmlia seminar 2024. Politicians have done much for Holmlia; the problem is simply that nothing they have done has worked—rather the opposite.
Photo: Beate Oma Dahle / NTB
A forewarned crisis in the capital
This is the seventh time in a few years that we see reports of how gang environments in Oslo are increasing in scope, despite the efforts of the police. Many have grown weary of the problems being allowed to develop undisturbed in certain districts, without sufficiently forceful measures being taken. The mapping shows that the network sells narcotics throughout the city, and that they do not hesitate to use severe violence in conflicts.
It is a serious reminder that safety in Oslo is under pressure from groups that stand entirely outside the Norwegian community.