01x02 - Operation Silent

[bunniefuu]

A NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY SERIES

Numerous priceless antiques
were stolen last night

from the royal summer palace,
Oscarshall, on Bygdøy in Oslo.

[reporter] A stone's throw away
lies the caretaker's building,

but they didn't notice anything.

Not even the guard dog
noticed anything wrong.

It includes smaller objects such as
a silver lamp, two console clocks,

a carriage clock, two porcelain busts,
a water jug, a washstand

and a washbowl with silver overlay.

Everything made in the 1800s.

POLICE HEADQUARTERS IN OSLO

[Eirik Jensen] We would receive
information in the form of a directive

on special incidents.

So we had our own contacts
in the art scene.

We had our own contacts at auction houses
and scrap yards and everything.

So we just had to start at one end
and start to seek out people.

[Leif Lier] I remember
the Bygdøy case very well.

I didn't know it at the time.
I found out later.

But it was Cappelen
who provided the information.

[Jensen] It was Gjermund Cappelen
who called and said,

"You have to come to Bærum
and meet me. It's important."

And I think, "What the f*ck is this?"

So we jumped in a car
and drove out to meet him.

And he had the stuff lying
in the back of his car.

[camera shutter clicks]

[Torgrim Eggen] Gjermund Cappelen
can jump fences,

and the missing goods are found.

And this leads to Eirik Jensen being able

to waltz
into the chief of police's office,

unwrap the goodies
and be in the top brass' good books.

And this resulted

in Eirik Jensen receiving an award
that year from the chief of police

for his fantastic work.

So he had to go up to the chief of police
to receive this award.

But, you know, the way he looked,
with jeans and a ponytail and stuff,

So I said, "You have to dress up, Eirik."

I said, "We're going up
to the chief of police's office,

and afterwards to the cafeteria to eat
on the chief's expenses."

And then he showed up in...
well, he dressed up.

He wore his confirmation suit
with a short jacket,

which of course had gotten
way too small and tight,

and a white shirt
that wouldn't button up at the collar,

but he had done his best

and stood there and received his prize.

[Cecilie Blegeberg]
And he was really proud.

He who always criticized his colleagues

for wanting to climb the hierarchy.

So...

So he was pretty pleased after all.

[Eggen] This is the time when
Eirik Jensen starts to collect awards.

Not only does he receive
the chief of police's golden watch,

he also receives a letter of gratitude
from the royal palace.

All thanks to Gjermund Cappelen.

EIRIK JENSEN, THE ENIGMA

[Jensen] Cappelen and I built a connection

that eventually led
to us trusting each other.

That's a part of the interaction between
handler and informant, to provide safety.

And the easiest way to do that
is to talk with each other,

and we talked a lot together.

And... and this included
personal things, of course.

We were quite similar in the way
that we didn't have a lot of friends,

few people to talk to,

and Cappelen is a damn charming guy.

You can talk to him about a lot.
He knows a lot of stuff.

[man] The first time I saw Gjermund
was with a mutual buddy.

And this was the core of the local g*ng.

And suddenly,
Gjermund started being friendly with me.

And I was a little surprised,
because he was so cool

and I was more insecure
and more of an outsider,

but we ended up friends.
And Gjermund, he was... he was polite,

very intelligent, incredibly funny.

He could talk to anyone who he wanted to.

He was handsome, very charismatic,

and the ladies, they...
they fell head over heels.

But he never settled down with anyone.

Because, well, we partied.

We raged, and eventually,
Gjermund got himself a car.

Even though he didn't have a license.

I remember turning 18,
we drove to Amsterdam.

There were four of us.

I think we decided that same night.

So we got in the car
and drove there as fast as lightning.

He didn't care about the rules
and regulations at all.

And shortly after,
he started going down the wrong path.

And I remember one time
when we were discussing right or wrong,

and I questioned things that he did.

And then he said,
"You see, I am a criminal."

[Jensen] I liked that he worked hard,
delivering results.

What I didn't like was
that he had a huge drug problem

that sometimes made him totally out of it,
that made him hide.

His dad contacted me
and asked if I could help his son.

So I drove out there,
and it was like he said.

There was a zombie
sitting in the chair up there,

with all the windows covered
and imagining things.

Coughing and hacking.

Plus, he was
completely hyper and paranoid.

So I had to help him.

The result of playing both sides
plays on your nerves,

and he did this to get us information.

I-I felt partly responsible for that.

[whirring]

[grinding]

I don't really remember
the first time I met GT,

but Eirik said that he was
gonna stay with us for a while,

because he was going to
some kind of rehab in Spain.

Eirik was going with him,

and they were gonna spend a week in Spain.

What the f*ck!

I don't know why
he had to go with him at all.

I would have understood
if he was a relative of Eirik's,

but why the hell
would he go there with a junkie?

"Well, he's given me
a lot of good information and stuff."

Well. So I thought maybe that's true.

Why did Eirik spend time with him at all?

In private too?

I asked him, "Have you taken time off
to do this, or how do you handle it?"

"Do your bosses know
that you are going with GT?"

[Jensen] It was approved.

I took a week's leave,

and I said I was going to take a client
to a rehabilitation centre.

And this was quite normal back then.

Anyway, it worked.

And Cappelen was actually clean
for many years after that.

I took it upon myself
to help him feel safe and...

be like a father figure for him

when it came to the hard facts of life.

FORMER POLICE LIEUTENANT
ASKER AND BÆRUM - ASBJØRN LINAKER

[Asbjørn Linaker] When we first heard
about Cappelen, he was named.

In police circles, he was known as "GT,"

because he was named
Gjermund Thorud back then.

We noticed him through sources,
meaning informants,

who said that he was selling hash.

And we eventually also saw
that there was smuggling involved.

[man] I remember one time he came
driving by as I was out on a walk,

and he stopped, rolled down the window

and showed me
a Kiwi bag completely full of hash.

And that was his way
of showing me how far he'd come.

That things had turned out
the way he wanted them to.

The thing with hash,
it's like everything else.

Røkke started selling fish,
then a ton of fish and so on and so forth.

Gjermund started with bricks,
then two bricks, then bags, then a ton.

[Linaker] We're now on Marstrander Road,

where Gjermund Cappelen,

the drug lord of Asker and Bærum, lived.

He had a large market,
imported a lot, sold a lot

and earned a lot of money doing it.

It was vital we stopped him
and put him behind bars...

to limit the drug use in town.

Administratively, the Oslo
Police Department was the largest,

and the Asker and Bærum
Police Department was

in many ways a district police department.

This led to typical friction
between these departments,

as they were
in close contact with each other.

[Linaker] Eirik visited
our district many times.

And we addressed the fact that he just
travelled around doing whatever he wanted.

I told Eirik that he needed to let us know

when he was doing work
in the Asker and Bærum police district.

But he didn't care.

He didn't want to cooperate
with Asker and Bærum at all.

We were like second-rate officers
compared to him.

In his mind.

POLICE

[Rolf Meyer] We had opened a case
against Cappelen in the fall of 2000.

FORMER SURVEILLANCE LEADER
ASKER AND BÆRUM - ROLF MEYER

The aim was
to uncover his organization and network,

and we received information

about a meeting he was going to have
in Oslo, which was important to him.

Cappelen, he lived in our district.

He was our responsibility.
But we informed Oslo, of course.

So the Oslo police were fully aware that
we were running surveillance on Cappelen.

He meets a person who gets into the car.

The surveillance leader reports back
that he can't see who it is,

but they drove off
and drove around the city.

And after a relatively
short period of time,

they stop driving, and the person
who was picked up gets out of the car.

That's when the patrol sees
that it's Eirik Jensen.

We knew Cappelen was Eirik's informant.

We didn't think that their cooperation
went further than that.

Cappelen drives back towards Bærum,

and at some point,
drives towards the surveillance leader

and waved his phone at him.

He appeared to want to talk to him.

Shortly after, he calls
on the surveillance leader's phone.

How he got that phone number is...

It's impossible.
It's a closed phone number.

No one outside of the police
has that phone number.

Cappelen explains that he knows he's
under surveillance by Asker and Bærum

and asks us to leave it
and stop the surveillance.

It was like being punched in the face,

because it was obvious
for the surveillance team

that their cover was blown,
and it was blown by Eirik.

[Jensen] Because I met
with him just before,

they are convinced
that I blew their cover.

But I didn't.

Asker and Bærum
had Cappelen under surveillance.

Cappelen saw it, understood it,

and then out of his own initiative,

called the Asker and Bærum operator
and was transferred

to the surveillance leader.
Then all hell broke loose.

Everyone was angry.

Everyone was angry with Jensen,
because they were sure it was true.

So this story did the rounds.

- [dial tone hums]
- [receiver clicks]

[Meyer] After a few days,

I got a call
from one of Eirik's bosses in Oslo,

that we were
to cease the surveillance on Cappelen,

because according to them,

they had information that he'd stopped
importing drugs and selling them.

He was now in the IT business. Yes.

And my response to that was,

"Do you think we're idiots out here?"

In short, that meant that Oslo
knew exactly what had happened...

and accepted it.

I was furious, and all the officers
in Asker and Bærum were of course furious.

We had put a lot of time
and effort into this,

and we felt that the case
was put on ice, completely ruined.

So we abandoned all surveillance
and unorthodox methods.

Everything was stopped.

[Linaker] There's a slight paradox
to this place.

Because when the airport was shut down

and the police authorities moved out
of Fornebu and over to Gardermoen,

Cappelen moved his office
into the old control tower at Fornebu,

where he ran his cover business.

[Eggen] In the 2000s, the hash business
started doing really well.

In 2006, he reached a point where he's
no longer able to spend all his money...

and was forced to find ways to launder it.

- [starting g*n shoots]
- He buys horses.

Among other things, he invests heavily

in a Swedish-owned pornographic film
and magazine company.

He deals with watches.

Deals a little in art.

And after that, a snus business,

Pure Nordic Tobacco,
if I recall correctly.

And when Cappelen brings
his family on holiday,

he doesn't check into
a really expensive hotel.

He checks into
the world's most expensive hotel

and stays there for weeks.

[coins clanking]

[monkey chittering]

He buys clothes he never wears.

He has a car intended for heads of state.

[engine revs]

This is a lifestyle
that's completely crazy,

any which way you look at it.

[Linaker] We had several projects
to catch him.

Sometimes we waited
for large amounts of drugs,

and every time, he always got away.

At the last minute,

right before the drugs were to come,

he was like a bar of soap.

[Meyer] Strangely enough,
his activities stopped,

like he knew we were there,

like he knew that we were
running operations against him.

It became really frustrating for us.

So a decision was made
to no longer share information

with other districts,
like we normally would.

OPERATION SILENT

[Linaker] Operation Silent
was an operation initiated

by the Asker and Bærum police district.

Asker and Bærum didn't have
enough resources to run the case alone.

So it was decided that Oslo would supply

one surveillance team,
but they were forbidden

to talk to other colleagues
about the case.

[Eggen] The police
have Cappelen under surveillance.

They see him come out of the house,
get in the car

and drive to Lysaker Station.

LYSAKER STATION

[detective] Cappelen entered Tintin Sushi,
sat down at a table in the back,

where a man was already seated.

- [camera shutter clicks]
- This person was not identified.

He becomes known as "Mr. X"
during the surveillance.

[detective] Approximately
five minutes later.

- Another man walks into Tintin Sushi.
- [shutter clicks]

Identified as "Maxopak."

He is a known member of the B g*ng in Oslo

and is also a known drug dealer.

[detective] He sat down at the table

where Cappelen
and the unidentified man were seated.

[Eggen] It seems pretty obvious
that this conversation

is about Cappelen
organizing a new hash deal.

DECEMBER 3, 2013


December the 3rd,
the detectives follow Gjermund Cappelen

to Sandvika Shopping Mall.

[detective] He walked
into the store called "Telekiosken,"

bought two phones without SIM cards.

We got the so-called
IMEI number of these phones.

[Eggen] The IMEI number enables
real-time listening,

and they can read his text messages.

Almost immediately, the police
see that there are certain numbers

Cappelen is in frequent contact with,

for example, "The Soft Drink Seller."

"SOFT DRINK SELLER"

Who is a close associate in the network.

But then they discover another number
that is not in the directory.

There's so much contact between
Cappelen and this mysterious number,

that they're very interested
in finding out more about this contact.

[detective] They were strange messages.

Like, what we call "bad guy messages."

Meeting arrangements and things like that.

[Eggen] The detectives do a search
of this mysterious number,

and they find out
that the phone number belongs to,

or did belong to,
a Pakistani national who emigrated

to the Pakistani city of Karachi in 2008.

And this "Karachi Man" appears to be
a central figure in Cappelen's network.

[electronic whining]

Through listening in on his calls,

they also hear
that Gjermund Cappelen plans

to travel to Copenhagen the next day.

CAPPELEN'S HOME

DECEMBER 6, 2013


On December the 6th, Cappelen is spotted
coming out with shopping bags

full of cash.



And Cappelen starts to stash these bags
into every conceivable cavity in the car.

[camera shutter clicking]

Cappelen has a meeting with a Danish
contact on the day he arrives,

and this is a guy who is connected
to large quantities of hash.

[chiming]

On the day of Gjermund Cappelen's trip
to Copenhagen,

there are four text messages between him
and the so-called "Karachi phone."

[chimes]

Based on these messages,
it's clear Cappelen and the Karachi Man

are planning to meet.

Finally, they are going to expose
who the Karachi Man is.

DECEMBER 10, 2013


THE KARACHI MAN: WHEN?

WHAT ARE WE DOING?

KIWI IN 15 MINUTES



[detective] We had
no idea what would happen.

I was on the lookout for a person
of Pakistani appearance.

[camera shutter beeps, clicks]

And then I see
a person enter Cappelen's car.

[beeps, clicks]

I'm taking photos
from a pretty long distance away,

and then the car drives off.

I have no idea who it is,

so I looked at the camera and zoomed in.

That's when I saw
it was Eirik Jensen getting into the car.

It made me feel unwell,
sick to my stomach.

And then I got a little nauseous.

I did not expect him
to be the one sitting in that car.

[Viggo Trosdahl] When Jensen turns up
in a criminal case,

you could say
that they got a hot potato in their laps.

They talk with their bosses
in Asker and Bærum,

and they send
a request to internal affairs,

who are the only ones qualified
to investigate the police.

And the only ones allowed
to investigate the police.

And then, in a way,
watching Jensen became a case of its own.

While the investigation into Cappelen...

[camera shutter clicks]

...continues.

Monday, the 16th of December,
a new figure appears

in Gjermund Cappelen's cast of characters.

This "Plumber" has been
a friend of Gjermund Cappelen's

since they were teens,
so the police know who he is.

DECEMBER 17, 2013


On the 17th of December,
detectives watch the Plumber

drive to Sørkedals Road in Oslo.

He then carries two huge black bags
into a pretty shabby garage.

This is probably Cappelen's drug ring's
hash storage facility.

Up until now,
the police have assumed they're waiting

for a delivery from abroad,

but it turns out that the ring probably
has enough hash

to complete the buy as planned.

[camera shutter clicks]

The police now decide to break
into the facility and steal the hash.

They make it look like a regular break-in.

What the police are hoping for
with this operation,

is that the network
will react in such a way

that Cappelen reveals himself.

What they find in the garage
is 109 kilos of hash

and 68,000 Norwegian kroner
just lying around in there.

[camera shutter clicks]

Now they wait for the reactions.

Will Cappelen
or one of his associates reveal anything?

PHONE CONVERSATION

[Plumber in Norwegian]
Hi. I'm outside right now.

There's been a break-in at the workshop.

They've taken f*cking everything. f*ck.

I'm outside and I...

- [Cappelen] No?
- [Plumber] Yes.

[in English] Things got pretty hectic
with the network.

But one of the first things
Gjermund Cappelen does

is to send a text message,

and it is sent to Eirik Jensen.

ARE YOU IN TOWN TODAY?
NEED TO TALK. IMPORTANT

Cappelen doesn't get
an answer from Eirik Jensen

until later that afternoon.

[chimes]

ANYTIME AFTER 11

I'LL BE IN AROUND 10.
ANYTHING I SHOULD KNOW?

I'LL EXPLAIN TOMORROW

DECEMBER 19, 2013


[detective] At approximately 10:40 a.m.,
Cappelen's BMW turned into Platous Road

and stopped outside Kiwi in Grønland.

[camera shutter clicks]

Eirik Jensen entered the car,

and the car drove to Ekeberg...

where the car turned around
and drove back to Platous Road.

Eirik walked towards the police station.

He has something white
that he puts in his jacket pocket.

[Eggen] What is it? Is it a notepad?

- Is it an envelope? Is it money?
- [camera shutter clicks]

Numerous messages
between Cappelen and Jensen ensue

about what they discussed.

WATCH HIM... IF HE SUDDENLY LEAVES. TELL ME

WHO? RØ?

YES

THAT'S NOT THE PROBLEM. 100&%

NO, BUT VITAL TO BE AWARE!

Gjermund Cappelen's wife
also calls him while he's in the car.

PHONE CALL

[wife in Norwegian]
Hi, just wondering if it's all sorted now.

- [Cappelen] No.
- [wife] After your chat. Nothing?

- [Cappelen] No.
- [wife] No help?

[Cappelen] Not much.

[wife] What?

Oh, my God.
I thought he was going to help you.

[Eggen in English] According to Cappelen,
he now has a suspect,

a specific person he suspects
of breaking in

and stealing his stash of hash.

And he airs this with Jensen.

According to Jensen, this is Cappelen
talking on behalf of a friend.

It's a friend's stash
that has been stolen.

[Meyer] Eirik knows that
a load of hash has gone missing.

We are talking about many kilos.

This information, he keeps to himself,

even though he has a duty to report it
further up the chain of command.

[Trosdahl] Why wasn't
a drug theft of this size

reported to others at the police station?

What were Jensen's motives
for not taking this further?

A hundred kilos, that's mouse piss
in the grand scheme of things.

And what we deal with,
what we receive reports of,

that's half a ton,


We don't have resources for that,
so we just leave it.

And the police have limited resources.

So it has,
on that criteria, from what I knew then,

not a chance
that it would have got priority.

That's why it was never followed up.

DECEMBER 19, 2013


[detective] Cappelen came out of
his residence at approximately 3:08 p.m.

and drove to the Sandvika shopping mall.

Three minutes later,
Cappelen is observed walking.

In his right hand,
he was carrying a heavy bag.

It looked similar
to the type of bag seized

during the break-in at Sørkedals Road.

[Eggen] Cappelen and his crew
don't just have hash

in the raided storage depot
in Sørkedals Road,

but they also have a depot in Asker.

From there,
he gets transferred a new bag of hash.

Normally, Cappelen is never
in personal contact with the hash,

but now we see him carrying the goods.

At 7:02 in the evening,
Cappelen parks outside Lysaker Station.

Here he meets the buyer,
the so-called Maxopak.

[detective] Maxopak took
a plastic bag out of the trunk

and entered on the driver side,

while Cappelen was on the passenger side.

He sat in the car
for approximately ten minutes,

before Cappelen exited the car

with a bag identical to the one
Maxopak had taken out of the trunk.

[Eggen] A plastic bag containing


So now the police
have exactly what they need.

A hash deal they can prove.

At 8:10 p.m., Cappelen is home again.

As another Christmas evening
draws to a close,

the police strike
and arrest Cappelen and his wife.

- [siren wailing]
- ["Silent Night" playing]

[chiming]

ON MY WAY... BUYING CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

ANY NEWS

COULDN'T YOU JUST CHECK
HIS GOODS AND PARTS SELECTION

THROUGH SOMEONE
WHO'S HAD AN ENGINE FAILURE...?

YOU'LL KNOW IF THEY'RE ORIGINAL PARTS
WHEN YOU SEE THEM

HEY... YOU ALIVE?

HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING... VACATIONING...?

[Benedict de Vibe] I was informed
rather quickly by the police

that Cappelen was charged
with a significant quantity of hash.

He was, of course, disappointed, scared.

Cappelen's greatest sorrow was, of course,
that they also arrested his wife,

and he hoped he would get out quickly.

That he would be released.

And he wanted contact
with his so-called handler.

And when
he had given them this information,

then he got a categorical "no."

It was not an option,
and this came from Asker and Bærum.

And then
the so-called "Ila Talks" started.

They came to talk to Gjermund.

[detective] We suspected an unhealthy
relationship between him and Eirik Jensen.

That was our suspicion,
and we went there to hear him out

and explore if he was
on board with what we believed.

It was important for us
to do it by the book.

We were not to put words in his mouth.

THE ILA TALKS

[Cappelen in Norwegian]
As I understand my situation...

[detective] Mm-hmm.

[Cappelen] I don't want it
to escalate further.

- I would like to put an end to this.
- [detective] Uh-huh.

[Cappelen] I'm sitting
on a lot of information,

and I've been an informant
for the Oslo police for over 20 years.

[detective] Mm-hmm.

[Cappelen] You can call
my handler and ask him,

and he'll say that I'm Norway's
greatest source of all time.

[detective in English] He appears
to be quite on the offensive.

He wanted to sell himself.

Said he could provide
sexy information, as we call it.

Information that is
highly relevant to the police.

[Cappelen in Norwegian] I've solved
a lot of cases. I've solved huge cases.

[detective] Mm-hmm.
What you are saying, I believe it,

and I know you well enough
that what you are saying, it's true.

Uh, but we are looking
for something a little different.

[Cappelen] What?

[detective] I think you know what.

[Cappelen] No.

- [detective] You've never been caught.
- [Cappelen] No.

- [detective] Until now.
- [Cappelen] No.

[detective] And I wonder why not.

[in English] There was about ten
to 20 seconds of silence.

Then I look at Cappelen,
and his face began twitching,

the type you can't control.

I could tell
his mind was working furiously,

and he's probably a little shocked,
a little scared maybe.

Cappelen, he starts these conversations
with trying to ingratiate himself

with the police, to sell himself
as Norway's greatest informant.

[De Vibe] Norway's greatest informant
of all time, a term only he uses.

And that's just utter nonsense.
It's just utter nonsense.

The officers there
are not interested in that.

They want to know
why he hasn't been caught until now.

That's when Cappelen
understands what they're after.

- [detective in Norwegian] Have something?
- [Cappelen] It's a bombshell.

[detective] What is this person's name?

[Cappelen] Eirik.

- [detective] And last name?
- [Cappelen] Jensen.

[dog barking]

[Jensen in English] I take the dog out
before I go to work

and put on some coffee,

and I like
to have a travel mug in the car.

Then I head out.

[reporter] An Oslo police commander

has been arrested
in connection with a large narcotics case.

[reporter 2 in Norwegian] The former
police commander is charged with smuggling

several tons of hashish into Norway,

as well as gross corruption
in millions of kroner.

Cappelen has stated that Jensen helped him
smuggle hashish for many years.

[Knut Holen in English] When we heard
it was Eirik Jensen,

I almost didn't want
to believe it was true.

[John Malden] Our jaws dropped
to the lowest notch.

What in the world is this?

[Paul Larsson] My first thought was
that now he's gone and pushed it too far.

[Cappelen in Norwegian]
He's going to try to do me in.

He's going to try to k*ll me.

That animal must never get out!

He wasn't threatening me to bring
in stuff, but he would... pressure me.

For quite a while. The last few years.

The last six,
seven years it's been like that.

He gets a certain amount per kilo.

- [detective] How much?
- [Cappelen] 500 kroner.

- [detective] Per kilo?
- [Cappelen] Yes.

[in English] Is that true?
Is it? Did he trick us?

CONTAINS REENACTMENTS OF AUDIO AND EVENTS

CAPPELEN DECLINED TO BE INTERVIEWED