Customs suspect 100 of drug trafficking from Netherlands

Finnish and Dutch authorities concerned suspect about 100 people from Finland, the Netherlands and Germany of being involved in smuggling a huge cache of goods, including drugs, into Finland last summer.

The authorities have arrested seven Danish people and 10 Finns in their respective countries for their suspected involvement in the smuggling.

The Finnish Customs in cooperation with the Dutch police are investigating into the role of a Dutch organisation in the smuggling racket, said a Finnish Customs press release on Thursday.

The Dutch organisation is being probed for its suspected role in distributing narcotics and sending more than 100 postal and courier consignments of drugs from the Netherlands to Finland.

The street value of the drug consignments seized stands at around 415,000 euros.

In early summer 2017, the Finnish Customs seized several postal consignments containing narcotics sent by a Dutch national to various locations in Finland. The seized consignments contained more than 1,300 grams of alpha-PVP, about 9,500 ecstasy tablets, and about 100 grams of cocaine and 200 grams of amphetamine.

Based on the Finnish Customs’ preliminary investigations into the case, the Dutch authorities started an operation that led to the detention of seven persons in the Netherlands and the seizure of 67,000 ecstasy tablets, 230 grams of cocaine, and 700 grams of MDMA powder.

The Finnish customs, meanwhile, detained 10 persons for their alleged involvement in the drug trafficking.

The Dutch authorities also carried out house searches and seized dozens of kilos of psychoactive substances some of which are legal in the Netherlands and some are classified as narcotics.

In the preliminary investigations by the Finnish Customs, it was established that the TOR network was used for ordering narcotics, and several drug consignments were paid for in bitcoins. Narcotics sent from the Netherlands to Finland were distributed, for example, via the Sipulikanava image board and the Wickr instant messaging service.

In the preliminary investigations, the Finnish Customs cooperated with the Dutch police authorities, the Finnish Bureau of Investigation, and the Helsinki Police.

The smuggling and distribution of narcotics investigated by the Customs involve several aggravated and standard narcotics offences. The preliminary investigations into the case have been concluded in Finland, and the Eastern Uusimaa Office of the Prosecutor is now considering pressing charges for some of the criminal offences committed in the case.