Customs confiscate record amount of doping agents from two vans

No report of the discovery for six months

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The Finnish Customs have kept quiet about the largest-ever shipment of doping agents ever intercepted in this country.
      In the early hours of August 24th, 2006, Customs officials discovered no fewer than 11.8 million tablets of anabolic steroids accompanied by 24,800 vials of growth hormone from two vans at the Vaalimaa border-crossing point. The vans were on their way from Finland to Russia.
      The shipment's monetary value is in the millions of euros.
     
In terms of size, the intercepted doping consignment is in a league of its own in Finnish criminal history. Normally the police and Customs confiscate a few hundred thousand doping tablets and vials per year.
      "Our history does not know of another smuggling attempt on such a grand scale. We calculated that the intercepted amount would have been enough to keep every single citizen of a small country like Estonia doped for a few weeks", notes Sami Rakshit, head of intelligence at the National Board of Customs.
      According to the Customs, the doping agents were not meant for the Finnish market. They entered Finland from China via Denmark, and from here they would have continued to Russia.
      Rakshit believes the substances would have ended up on the black market. "Some of the stuff would have undoubtedly found its way back to Finland", he reckons.
     
The Customs only informed the media of the confiscation yesterday in connection with the publication of the annual confiscation statistics of the police and Customs Board.
      Rakshit reveals that the Customs kept the confiscation secret, among other things, because the organisers of the smuggling have not yet been caught.
      The drivers of the vans were believed to be unaware of the true content of their cargo.
      The Customs completed a criminal investigation into the matter, as a result of which five people were suspected of grave doping offences. According to the Turku District Court prosecutor, however, there was not enough evidence to support bringing criminal charges.
     
With regard to the bulk of the intercepted consignment, namely the 11.8 million anabolic steroid tablets, the prosecution agreed that a crime had taken place. Unfortunately all attempts to establish the sender, the owner, or the receiver of the tablets have failed.
      As for the 24,000 growth hormone vials, their buyer was discovered to be an Uzbekistani-Russian firm, which stated it needed the vials for test usage in several Uzbekistani hospitals.
      "The importation ban mentioned in the 44th Chapter of the Penal Code is not applicable in this case, as Finland was merely used as a transit country", the prosecutor defined.
     
Some cause for suspicion, however, was raised by the fact that in different stages of their journey, the doping agents had been registered as soy flour, clothes, shoes, and bags. Also, there are demonstrably shorter ways to travel from China to Uzbekistan than through Denmark, Finland, and Russia.
      In their December ruling, the prosecution ordered the Customs to return the growth hormone to its buyer. So far, nobody has appeared to claim the items.
     
According to the Customs and the National Bureau of Investigation (Finland's central criminal police), an increasing number of those suspected of grave drug violations are Finns. Last year, 14 percent of the known offences were committed by foreign nationals, against 28 percent a year earlier.
      Last year the police and Customs confiscated 6.5 kilograms of cocaine. In the preceding three years the corresponding amount has varied between 1.1 to 1.2 kilograms. Confiscations of hashish were down by nearly 150 kilos at 282 kilos. The 2005 figures were swelled by one single discovery of 300 kilos of the drug.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Repin train doping confiscation produces gigantic haul (10.5.2005)

Helsingin Sanomat