Most illegal drugs used in Finland pass through Helsinki region

Illicit market said to be near European average

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Most of the illegal drugs sold in Finland pass through the Helsinki region en route to other parts of the country. According to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), drugs move in smaller quantities to other parts of Finland from wholesale suppliers in the Helsinki area.
      "Almost every larger drug case has linkages with the Helsinki region", says special investigator Tuija Hietaniemi of the NBI.
     
The drug market grew evenly in Finland from the early 1990s to the present decade. Now the market has evened out. Per capita consumption of illegal drugs in Finland is estimated to be at about an average level for Europe.
      According to NBI figures, about 425 kilos of cannabis, the most commonly consumed illegal drug, has been confiscated every year, and about 115 kilos of amphetamine.
      A rule of thumb among police is that about 10 per cent of the drugs on the market are confiscated.
      "There is a market in Finland, which is close in size to the average European level. But there are not the kinds of drug user communities that there are in some large European countries", says Tuija Hietaniemi.
     
Finland is a target country in the international drugs trade. The most common route to Finland for drugs goes through Estonia. Police estimate that at leat 90 per cent of the amphetamine on sale on the Finnish market comes from Estonia or passes through the country.
     The volume of drugs passing through Finland is small by European standards. Individual deliveries smuggled into Finland usually comprise no more than a few dozen kilos.
     Drugs coming from Russia onto the European market usually do not pass through Finland.
     "This is influenced by the level of border controls, and the types of criminal groups that exist in the border countries. For instance, Heroin from Afghanistan that comes through Russia rarely passes through Finland, even though it would be a possible transit route."
     The nature of the illegal drugs trade in Finland is largely similar to that in other partes of Europe - well organised, and professional.
     "The criminal organisations expand their activities constantly to various sectors of economic crime, because the market is limited because of the small population", Tuija Hietaniemi says.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Police bust massive drug ring in Helsinki region (28.9.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat