Customs reveal four large drug hauls inside one week
Largest-ever ecstasy seizure in Hanko
|
|
Inside one week at the end of March and beginning of April, the National Board of Customs has made four substantial drug seizures. All the individuals currently under suspicion of involvement in aggravated drug-related crimes are apparently of foreign origin, and there are no cross-links between the four cases.
At the beginning of April, the country's largest-ever seizure of ecstasy was made in Hanko. A search of the car driven by a man who turned out to be a St.Petersburg police officer revealed 5.5 kilos of hashish and a further 5.5 kilos of ecstasy (MDMA, or (3-4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine), roughly 20,000 tablets.
The load, which was spotted by a sniffer-dog, is the largest discovery of the drug ever recorded by the Southern Customs District. In order to give some kind of comparison, it is roughly three times the entire total for 2004.
"This was an exceptionally large haul. It would appear that after a break of a couple of years this drug is once again gaining ground in the Finnish market", said a customs spokesman.
The other drug confiscations were also on a large scale. On April 5th, two Estonian men were found with six kilos of amphetamine. Their car was stopped in Vantaa after a tip-off from the Estonian side. Customs Inspector Mika Lopmeri expressed his gratitude to the Estonian Customs for their role in the bust.
Investigations have not yet indicated the precise location of where the amphetamine was manufactured. At a conservative estimate, the load would have had a street value in the region of EUR 120,000.
At the end of March, customs officers got wind of a load of hashish arriving from Stockholm. When the suspect vehicle was stopped in Nurmijärvi, north of Helsinki, a total of 32 kilos of the substance was found from the fuel tank.
The German driver was taken into custody. The drugs were from Central Europe. An Estonian man living in Germany was also involved in the smuggling operation
Also at the end of March, an Estonian man was intercepted in Helsinki carrying a belt-bag into which were stuffed around two thousand 8mg Subutex tablets.
Helsingin Sanomat
|
| 26.4.2005 - TODAY |
 Customs reveal four large drug hauls inside one week |
|
