Narcotics smuggling ring unearthed

The Finnish Customs has seized about 74 kilograms of marijuana smuggled into Finland by an import organisation at the beginning of February, said an official press release on Thursday.

The Customs department suspects six men who live mainly outside Finland of several aggravated narcotics offences.

During the preliminary investigation, Customs ascertained that from November 2017 to February 2018 the organisation had brought in a total quantity of 74 kilograms of marijuana, of which Customs seized 71 kilograms.

The organization aimed to smuggle the narcotics to the Turku region to be distributed by a man from Turku. The street value of the cache in Finland would have amounted to 1.4 million euros.

In addition to this, Customs uncovered, in connection with the preliminary investigation of the case, a Cannabis-growing operation during a home search and seized a little more than one kilogram of dried marijuana and several Cannabis Sativa plants.

Customs preliminary investigation showed that the members of the organisation smuggled great quantities of marijuana on several occasions via Helsinki and Tornio to Finland on foot or by car.

Marijuana was also brought into the country as freight from southern Europe through a courier company.

The weight of the narcotics batches varied from three to 21 kilograms. Customs preliminary investigation also showed that the operation’s key player, operating abroad, recruited economically disadvantaged individuals without a previous criminal history to do the smuggling.

Customs uncovered the operation in the beginning of February 2018, when Customs apprehended the key player and another suspect in Kaarina with a large batch of narcotics. In addition to this, Customs conducted several home searches in the Turku region during which more marijuana was seized. Of the suspects, four individuals are still held in pre-trial detention.

Customs has cooperated with several national and foreign investigating authorities during the preliminary investigation of the case, especially with the Southwestern Finland Police Department.