Narcotics worth €4m smuggled from Spain to Finland

Finnish Customs suspected eight people-three Finns and five foreign nationals- of smuggling narcotics worth about four millions euros from Spain to Finland, said Customs in a press release on Tuesday.

During the preliminary investigation, Finnish Customs has carried out searches and made apprehensions in the Helsinki region and in Jyväskylä.

The largest seizure, about 90 kilograms of marijuana and 10 kilograms of hashish, was made at a self-storage facility in Helsinki. The narcotics had been concealed in various rucksacks – almost 400 rucksacks were seized during the preliminary investigation.

The searches also resulted in the seizures of 45 000 euros in cash and two unlicensed handguns. It is suspected that the cash originates from narcotics trade. The investigation is also looking into other consignments of narcotics smuggled by the same organisation.

“We got on the trail of the smuggling organisation through our own criminal investigation. We suspect that the organisation has, since November last year, smuggled eight different consignments of narcotics from Spain to Finland. It is suspected that these consignments have contained altogether at least 280 kilograms of marijuana and hashish. The street value of the smuggled narcotics is around four million euros,” said the investigator in charge, Senior Customs Officer Janne Kallio.

The consignments of narcotics were smuggled in commercial freight consignments from Spain through Central Europe to Finland.

“ Once again, the smugglers have used legal freight consignments for transporting narcotics. The transport company is not suspected of complicity in the smuggling,” said Kallio.

The authority during the preliminary investigation cooperated closely with the Central Finland Police Department. The authority also exchanged information with Spanish, Dutch and German authorities, Kallio continues.

In addition to the narcotics offences, the investigation also covers a firearms offence.

When the preliminary investigation has been completed, the case will be forwarded to the Prosecution District of Southern Finland for consideration of charges.