Number of narcotics offences on the rise

The Customs uncovered nearly 7 800 customs offences and seized over 1 700 kilos of narcotics in 2019, said an official press release.

The societal impact of crime prevention by Customs in 2019 amounted to around 66 million euros and the impact of economic crime prevention to around 33 million euros.

In 2019, Finnish Customs registered a total of 2 020 narcotics offences, 389 of which were aggravated offences (281 aggravated cases in 2018).

The seizure of the “Silkkitie” server resulted in Customs uncovering about 7 000 criminal offences, a significant number of which will be investigated as different types of narcotics, doping and medicine offences.

In 2019, Customs seized a total of 1 714 kilos of narcotics, which is almost 700 kilos more than the year before. The rise in the total quantity is mainly explained by increased quantities of khat and marijuana. Customs seized over 255 kilos of marijuana, the largest quantity in 13 years (200 kilos in 2018).

Customs also seized a record quantity of 32.9 kilos of cocaine in 2019. More than seven kilos of heroin was seized by customs authorities. In previous years, the quantity seized heroin was only a fraction of this.