Last week’s overdose death leads police to major heroin bust

Confiscated drug unusually potent

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Last week’s death of a man from a drug overdose in a Helsinki hotel has led to an exceptionally large seizure of heroin by the Helsinki police. The police reported on Thursday that they had found nearly a kilo of very strong heroin in a northern suburb of Helsinki.
      The batch was said to be of such high purity that users would have died if it had reached the streets.
      “There has not been very much heroin on the market for a long time. When this happens, users’ tolerance for the drug declines, and when suddenly strong heroin appears, it leads to deaths from overdose”, says Jani Pyynönen, head of the investigation at the Helsinki Police Department.
     
Pynnönen says that the heroin that was now confiscated had a street value of nearly EUR 400,000, and would have been enough for about 20,000 doses.
      A large amount of other drugs, and tens of thousands of euros in cash, was also confiscated in connection with the investigation.
     
The death at the Hotel Glo put police on the trail of the heroin traffickers.
      A 27-year-old Finnish man died last week in the hotel in the centre of Helsinki after taking heroin, which he apparently thought was cocaine. Two other people in the same group were hospitalised.
      Police say that most of the people in the hotel were buyers of drugs, but there were also dealers at the scene, as well as some of the main suspects. Others were later caught as a part of the police investigation.
     
Police are still investigating if any of those at the hotel knew that the substance in question was heroin.
      Police say that the main suspects are African. They have lived in Finland for several years, but none of them has been granted political asylum or a residence permit. Police had been searching for some of them in order to execute a deportation order.
      Pynnönen says that the group’s activities had been extensive, well-planned, and at least to some degree well-organised.
      Ten people are currently remanded in custody over the matter. Some of those who were detained at the hotel have already been released.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Drug death in Helsinki hotel leads to trafficking arrests (9.12.2009)
  Drug sold as cocaine suspected in poisoning death in Helsinki hotel (8.12.2009)

Helsingin Sanomat