The Federal Interior Ministry has received a request from the Home Department of Sindh to expedite the process of obtaining a Red Notice for Norwegian journalist Rolf John Widerøe, who is accused of allegedly depriving a Pakistani national out of Rs10 million with false promises of Norwegian citizenship.
According to the sources, the Sindh police is currently investigating the fraud case of the Norwegian right-wing Verdens Gang (VG) tabloid journalist Rolf John Widerøe but it has stalled due to the main accused’s non-cooperation with the Pakistani authorities. To revive the investigation, the Sindh police have instructed the relevant authorities to provide necessary information to the Nordic Police Liaison Officer at the Norwegian Embassy and collaborate with them to bring Rolf J. Widerøe to justice for defrauding a Pakistani citizen.
A civil court issued a Non-Bailable Warrant of Arrest against Rolf J. Widerøe on February 27, 2016 but the police reported that Widerøe had flown to Norway and was evading arrest, refusing to cooperate with Pakistani authorities. A police report on February 27, 2016, declared Rolf Johan Widerøe an absconder, stating he fled to Norway after committing the crime.
A probe by the federal investigators has revealed that Rolf J. Widerøe, a known racist and Islamophobe, is implicated in multiple instances of fraud and corruption.
The Sindh Police have verified that they are still seeking Rolf J. Widerøe, who deprived Maqsood Ali of Nawabshah of Rs10 million by promising to secure Norwegian immigration documents. Maqsood Ali filed a complaint against Widerøe on January 14, 2016, at the Dhamrah Road Police Station in Nawabshah but Widerøe had already left the country by then after committing the fraud.
Sindh Police records show Rolf J. Widerøe, who works for tabloid Verdens Gang, was on a journalist visa to Pakistan when he cheated the Pakistani national.
According to the police record, Maqsood Ali s/o Abdul GhafoorArain lodged an FIR at Dhamrah Road Police Station and nominated Widerøe as the accused who took ten million rupees in the presence of eyewitnesses from the Pakistani national for Norwegian passport but “committed cheating and criminal breach of trust”. Widerøe threatened Maqsood Ali of dire consequences over the phone after leaving Pakistan, prompting the Nawabshah court to issue Non-Bailable Arrest Warrants against him for failing to comply with the FIR and declaring him an absconder.
Sindh police requested the Home Department to execute a Non-Bailable Warrant of arrest against absconding accused Rolf Johan Widerøe, a Norwegian resident, through the Ministry of Interior, Islamabad. The report attached a copy of the NBW against Rolf J. Widerøe and requested the issuance and execution of a Red Warrant to produce him before the trial court, as the existing warrants remained unexecuted.
