Norwegian mafia tied to car trunk murder case

Police in Oslo are to investigate suspicions that Norwegian drug gangs may be connected to the grisly find of two burned bodies in the boot of a car in western Sweden last week.

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Swedish police have now confirmed that both victims of the suspected double murder near Halmstad were men, a conclusion which strengthens the theory that the bodies found off the E6 motorway were those of the car owner's 25-year-old son and his 42-year-old uncle.

"It is correct that the supposed murder victims had a certain connection to Norway. It is for this reason that police in Oslo have received a request for assistance from Sweden," Einar Aas, head of the Oslo police department's organized crime division, told Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet.

Though a full identification is not expected until the end of the week, family members of the supposed victims, with a background in northern Iraq, have already begun grieving their loss, Expressen reports.

"The car is mine. I have lost hope that my son and his uncle are still alive. This is the worst catastrophe of my life," the 25-year-old's father told Expressen.

The 42-year-old, a resident of Arvika in central Sweden, had previously lived in Oslo where he ran a business and had a large number of contacts. He was believed to have been travelling from the Norwegian capital to Malmö on the day of the macabre find.

With him in the car was his 25-year-old nephew and three million Norwegian kronor ($535,000), believed to have been the proceeds of a drug deal, Dagbladet reports.

According to the newspaper, the 42-year-old had run into various difficulties with serious criminals in recent months, including a difference of opinion with drug dealers in St. Petersburg over a consignment of marijuana.

The bodies were found on Wednesday night after emergency crews received a call about a red Volvo S60 on fire on a bridge over the E6 motorway near Getinge outside Halmstad.