On a yearslong hunt for thousands of US silver coins squirreled away in Norway, police investigating a money laundering case finally got a lucky break: a tip about a van swerving on a highway outside Oslo last year. When officers pulled the vehicle over for inspection in April 2025 they discovered tens of thousands of American Eagle silver coins. A second van that arrived shortly afterward was found to be carrying tens of thousands more. The total take: nearly 67,000 coins worth at least $2.65 million, officials said. On Thursday, the economic crime unit Okokrim announced that three Norwegians—two men and a woman—have been sentenced to up to 2.5 years in prison over the illegal possession of the coins, reports the AP.
The convictions on charges of aggravated money laundering followed allegations that proceeds from a "major investment scheme" in the US had been converted into millions of dollars worth of coins. "It is gratifying that ... a verdict has now been handed down, enabling the victims of the fraud in the USA to have the misappropriated assets returned to them," Public Prosecutor Jon André Hvoslef-Eide said in a statement. An earlier hoard of 79,500 silver coins was found in 2019. Investigators were still searching for more missing US silver coins, at the request of American authorities, when they made their discovery in 2025, Hvoslef-Eide said. Because the price of silver has risen significantly in the past year, the Norwegian haul is even more valuable than when it disappeared.
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