Norwegian police are not being updated on Laos murder case 

It has been almost three months since Japanese Ogu Hiroyuki was arrested by the police in Laos for the murder of Norwegian Nerid Høiness but neither the Norwegian police nor the family has been told what is happening in the case.

VG writes that Nerid Høiness’s family is still left with questions about what exactly happened to her in Laos but the answers have been difficult to find.

Nerid was found murdered in the jungle of Laos in January 2020 and her boyfriend Hiroyuki Ogu was suspected and wanted for her murder. But it was not until Christmas Eve 2021, that her family in Norway received the message that Nerid’s alleged killer had been caught the month before, after almost two years on the run. 

The Norwegian police were informed of the arrest of Hiroyuki Ogu in Laos on 23 December and the head of the investigation section at Tønsberg police station Knut Erik Ågrav told VG at the time that the information came as a response to an inquiry Norwegian police had directed to Laos.

Knut Erik Ågrav now says to VG that they sent several questions about the criminal case via Interpool to Laos at the end of January, but they have still not received an answer.

“We understand that the family finds it hard not knowing what happened and not receiving answers as quickly as we are used to in Norway. This is where different laws and regulations, transparency, and rights around the world come into play. The Norwegian police must use the channels that exist in this international picture and we believe that we are doing that,” Knut Erik Ågrav says.

For cooperation with the police abroad, Norway’s National Criminal Investigation Service (Kripos) has the main responsibility for contact mediation and acts as one of several intermediaries. Local police in Norway are happy to contact Kripos who contact Interpol or Europol, who in turn have contact with the relevant police authority.

In addition, police in the Nordic countries have joined forces to have a liaison officer in the area who is based in Thailand.

“In order to provide the relatives with as much information as possible, we also try to go the diplomatic route, and we have a desire to be able to use the Nordic liaison officer to a greater extent. Unfortunately, this has not been possible so far due to strict covid-19 restrictions at the borders,” Knut Erik Ågrav explains.